Developing autonomous driving technologies, Kia is focusing on several fields. 'Highway Autonomous Driving' or simply HAD keeps the vehicle within its lane or passes other vehicles based on radar and video cameras recognizing the car's surroundings.

During 'Urban Autonomous Driving' (UAD)the vehicle can determine the car's position and successfully navigate city streets using live traffic updates even when making its way through heavy city traffic.

'Preceding Vehicle Following' (PVF) is like adaptive cruise control – when the system isn't able to detect and read road signs, it focuses on vehicles driving ahead of it and follows it.

'Emergency Stop System' (ESS) can identify when the driver is disoriented or not focused enough (the system monitors driver's attention and if the driver keeps his eyes away from the road for too long, it takes action), it makes the car automatically and safely park by the road.

'Traffic Jam Assist' (TJA) follows vehicles ahead of it in heavy traffic and 'Autonomous Valet Parking' (AVP) lets the driver exit the car, while it parks itself, assisted by a smart key or a smartwatch.

These technologies were developed to lessen the burden all the drivers carry during driving under demanding circumstances or long, monotonous travels on the highways.

Undee the DriveWise sub-brand, Kia will also develop systems for interaction between the driver and the vehicle, supported by gesture control, fingerprint recognition and smartphone (or other portable device) connectivity.

Nevada granted Kia a license to test its new driverless technologies on Nevada's public roads. Kia will be using Soul EV, driving through the Death Valley area of the Silver State.