Vietnam’s first autonomous vehicle debuts

• Rare old vehicles on display in HCMC
• Vietnam’s first station for electronic vehicles opens in Da Nang city

The vehicle is equipped with smart functions, artificial intelligence (AI) and advancements such as 2D/3D maps, Lidar sensor, SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping technology), machine learning and deep learning.

The electrical eco-friendly self-driving vehicle also has nearly 40 level-4 self-driving features based on the standards of the Society of Automobile Engineers (SAE International), in which level 5 is the highest.

Phenikaa's smart autonomous vehicle is driverless and the user can take control of the vehicle via a customised application.

Vietnam's first self-driving vehicle's prototype was displayed in front of a conference building at Phenikaa University. (Photo: VNA)

It still needs to undergo more tests for safety and at different locations, as well as more research to reduce production costs before being brought to market. 

With the current infrastructure, technology and regulations in Vietnam, it might take some time before the vehicle can be used on the roads.

"We hope the introduction of Vietnam’s first 'Made-in-Vietnam' Level-4 Smart Autonomous Vehicle will facilitate the development of the self-operating industry, localise technological products and perfectly meet the market demand for high-quality, internationally standardised products and services," Le Anh Son, Director of Phenikaa-X JSC, said.

"If self-driving vehicles are regulated by law like other vehicles in the future, they can solve all transportation issues. So the self-driving vehicles will be our future."

Through the project, the group also expects to create a high-quality workforce for the local market. 

"We don't hold a dream of becoming an automaker. When investing in this project, our first target is to create useful and good high-tech products for lives,"  Ho Xuan Nang, Chairman of Phenikaa University, said.

"And the second purpose is to gather researching forces and to show that this kind of research in a university is really useful for training and teaching."

Last week, Phenikaa Group signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Nippon Koei Vietnam, SICK Sensor Intelligence, Advantech Vietnam Technology Co Ltd, BAP Group, and VEDAX to cooperate in making new products with high qualities and superior functions and pushing the development of the autonomous industry.