LG Uplus said on May 11 it expanded application of a control system combining artificial intelligence with high-precision positioning (RTK) in Yongin Special City, Gyeonggi Province, together with road management solutions firm MillieWay.

The AI road hazard control system installs RTK and AI video monitoring devices on city buses and government vehicles. It detects and analyses potholes and road surface damage in real time.

LG Uplus' RTK technology can pinpoint the location of road hazards detected by AI to the centimetre. Errors in the existing global navigation satellite system (GNSS) can reach up to 15 metres, but RTK minimises errors by linking ground reference stations with dedicated devices in real time.

Because it uses vehicles, it can monitor a wider area more accurately. It is also linked to the civil complaint system so that when AI finds damage it immediately files a complaint and the relevant department can handle it quickly.

From April last year to February this year, the AI road hazard control system detected about 3,200 road hazards. Road-related complaints filed through the National Petition Center and other channels fell about 19 percent, or 436 cases, from a year earlier. Compensation payments for damage to public structures caused by road defects also fell about 25 percent, the company said.

Based on those effects, Yongin expanded the system's coverage to a total of 300 vehicles, including village buses and government vehicles. From next month, it plans to apply it to damaged metal objects on roads and the handling of animal carcasses as well.

Bae Jun-hyung (배준형), head of LG Uplus' mobility business task force, said the combination of high-precision positioning and road management AI helped improve location accuracy and the reliability of hazard detection. He said the company would continue efforts so that telecom infrastructure can strongly support smart public administration.