Kia Details Drive Wise Sub-Brand for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems

Kia is showing off its new advanced driver assistance features and its plan to deliver a self driving car by 2030.

Kia is announcing a flurry of high-tech news at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), but we’ll start with the big one: the automaker has been given a grant by the state of Nevada to test its autonomous Kia Soul EV on public roads. This Soul EV is acting as the brand’s testbed for the development of next-generation technologies and will set off to the roads around Death Valley.

This is all part of a plan that involves getting a self-driving car to market by 2030. But what will the company offer until that self driving car that’s 14 years away? That’s where the new Drive Wise sub brand that was announced comes into play.

Drive Wise is Kia’s name for its advanced driver assistance systems, or semi-autonomous features. Kia’s future technologies on display at CES 2016 include Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Preceding Vehicle Following, Emergency Stop System, Traffic Jam Assist and a new Autonomous Parking & Out function.

Here’s a quick breakdown:

The Highway Autonomous Driving system will keep the car in its lane, and can even safely change lanes and pass slower vehicles without driver input.

The Urban Autonomous Driving will keep the car in its lane and the vehicle will react to real-time traffic updates.

The Preceding Vehicle Following system is an enhanced lane-keep feature that can monitor the vehicle in front of the car and allows it to calculate its own path relative to it, making for safe following distances if the lane markings are covered due to weather conditions or road layout.

The Emergency Stop System uses face tracking to determine if the driver is paying attention and can direct the car to a safe shoulder in an emergency.

The Traffic Jam Assist is like cruise control for traffic, meaning the car will stop and move in the proper flow of traffic.

Lastly the Autonomous Parking In and Out a self-valet that can let you get out of the car while it parks its self remotely.

Kia finally showed off its future cockpit, with a new infotainment display that allows for gesture controls and can even recognize the driver based on their smartphone or smart watch.

The korean automaker hopes to have all these semi autonomous features in a production car by 2020.

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