SK Telecom wins Network X Award for AI-based autonomous vehicle transport

SK Telecom's AI-based radio access network (AI-RAN) technology for autonomous vehicle movement (AVM) has earned international recognition. The company plans to deploy the technology at a domestic automobile factory and validate it in a real industrial environment, with the ultimate goal of developing it into a physical AI service built on AI-RAN.

SK Telecom announced Thursday that it won the "most innovative 5G service" category at the Network X Awards, held Wednesday (local time) in Vienna, Austria.

Network X is an international event covering wired and wireless telecommunications networks, organized by global ICT media and research firm Informa. The event draws more than 100 expert speakers and over 1,000 global carriers, large corporations and startups.

The most innovative 5G service award recognizes telecommunications services that present new service value and business models based on 5G networks. SK Telecom took the honor in that category for its AVM technology.

The company was recognized for delivering a new type of communications service in which AI-RAN directly perceives and controls vehicles on-site. AI-RAN is a next-generation network infrastructure capable of providing both telecommunications and AI services simultaneously.

AVM performs vehicle transport and alignment tasks through an intelligent network. LiDAR sensors installed on-site send point cloud data — three-dimensional representations of the shape and position of objects — to AI-RAN base stations, which then construct a real-time digital twin.

The system uses that digital twin to calculate collision-free routes and issue driving commands to finished vehicles. Even standard vehicles without autonomous driving capabilities can be moved unmanned once a module and software are installed.

The service was validated through an autonomous valet parking demonstration at an actual parking facility. The entire process — from sensor data collection to AI decision-making to the transmission of driving commands — was completed within the response time required for unmanned vehicle control. The demonstration vehicle completed autonomous parking without human intervention.

Through the demonstration, SK Telecom also confirmed the potential to extend automation beyond the latest self-driving cars to ordinary vehicles and robots. Because the network monitors the entire site and coordinates routes, it can also prevent congestion caused by vehicles becoming entangled in narrow passageways.

SK Telecom plans to apply the technology at a domestic automobile factory next year and validate it in a real industrial environment. The company intends to expand its application to large-scale logistics sites such as ports and airports, and to develop it into a physical AI service based on AI-RAN as the technology evolves from 5G standalone toward 6G.

"We will advance our physical AI services based on AI-RAN and accelerate the evolution toward autonomous networks," said Ryu Tak-gi, SK Telecom's head of network technology.