Photo: Stefan Baldauf / SB-Medien
Several companies have been busy over the past few years trying to advance the research into fully autonomous cars. Eyeing the still non-existent segment of robotaxis, among others, most of these companies are still far from making such services available.
Hyundai is one of the carmakers that have been toying with the idea of Level 4 or even Level 5 self-driving cars, but until this week their efforts have been marginal.
That changed when the South Koreans announced the creation of a joint venture with another automotive giant, Aptiv. The two will work together to develop and launch in 2022 a series of production-ready autonomous driving systems to be used by robotaxi providers, fleet operators, and other auto manufacturers.
Both Hyundai and Aptiv seem heavily committed to this new partnership, as they said the combined financial effort for the project is estimated at $4 billion, and it will require the efforts of at least 700 people. Each of the two entities will own an equal stake in the joint venture.
“The new joint venture marks the start of a journey with Aptiv toward our common goal of commercializing autonomous driving,” said in a statement Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman, Hyundai Motor Group.
“The combined capabilities of Aptiv, a leading global technology company, and our Group, a global OEM, will create invaluable synergy to lead the autonomous driving landscape.”
We should see the first results of the partnership on the road as soon as next year, when tests of these fully driverless systems are scheduled to begin.
A Level 4 autonomous car can handle pretty much all tasks required for driving and there's no need for human input during the functioning of the system. Drivers can take over however if they so wish.
A Level 5 system, however, doesn't even have to have control systems, as it is fully capable of driving itself no matter the conditions.
That changed when the South Koreans announced the creation of a joint venture with another automotive giant, Aptiv. The two will work together to develop and launch in 2022 a series of production-ready autonomous driving systems to be used by robotaxi providers, fleet operators, and other auto manufacturers.
Both Hyundai and Aptiv seem heavily committed to this new partnership, as they said the combined financial effort for the project is estimated at $4 billion, and it will require the efforts of at least 700 people. Each of the two entities will own an equal stake in the joint venture.
“The new joint venture marks the start of a journey with Aptiv toward our common goal of commercializing autonomous driving,” said in a statement Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman, Hyundai Motor Group.
“The combined capabilities of Aptiv, a leading global technology company, and our Group, a global OEM, will create invaluable synergy to lead the autonomous driving landscape.”
We should see the first results of the partnership on the road as soon as next year, when tests of these fully driverless systems are scheduled to begin.
A Level 4 autonomous car can handle pretty much all tasks required for driving and there's no need for human input during the functioning of the system. Drivers can take over however if they so wish.
A Level 5 system, however, doesn't even have to have control systems, as it is fully capable of driving itself no matter the conditions.
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