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EMILIO HERRERA
COO KIA MOTORS EUROPE
Emilio Herrera has more than 20 years’ experience in
the European automotive sector. He has held the role of
Managing Director for Kia Motors Iberia since December
2012, during which time Kia has become the fastest-growing
volume brand in Spain, with sales more than
doubling between 2013 and 2017. Prior to this, he was
Managing Director for Kia Motors Belgium. Born in
Lausanne, Switzerland in 1961, he graduated in 1984
in Linguistics and Communication from the Katholieke
Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and speaks six languages.
electric cars, for those who need to complete longer journeys. For many
owners living in urban areas, however, electric cars will continue to make
more sense, with owners only needing vehicles for shorter journeys.
‹F.›: Autonomous driving is a big topic for the industry right now. What
are Kia’s plans in this regard and do you think fully autonomous driving
will become a reality in the not too distant future?
‹Herrera›: Many of our current cars feature partially autonomous ‘advanced
driver assistance’ technologies, such as Lane Following Assist – a
‘level two’ autonomous technology that we offer on many cars in Europe.
We are actively working on several new driver assist technologies for
application in new models from 2020 onwards, including Highway Autonomous
Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, an Emergency Stop System,
Traffic Jam Assist and even Autonomous Parking.
These technologies and others under development will enable Kia to make
partial autonomous driving a reality for every consumer, though we feel
that widespread proliferation of true fully-autonomous driving will be realized
sometime closer to 2030. It is too early to confirm at this time when
we will offer the first fully-autonomous Kia.
‹F.›: What about the safety aspects in autonomous driving? What are
the major challenges that still need to be tackled to guarantee safe
operation?
‹Herrera›: The safety of our customers is our number one priority, so we
would only introduce the technology to the market once we have absolute
confidence in its capabilities. There are a number of significant challenges
to overcome to get to this point, such as making continued technological
advances to enhance sensor capability and performance. We also need to
ensure that the technologies provide absolutely reliable judgment and flawless
execution of vehicle maneuvers in perfect harmony.
Kia was granted a special license by the U.S. state of Nevada to test its drive
assist technologies on public roads. This is helping us to develop many
of our technologies and test them in real-world conditions. From 2021, Kia
will also participate in a Smart City project in South Korea, testing connected