South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Group is joining arms with an automotive technology firm in the U.S. to develop autonomous car technologies.
Hyundai hopes to have production-ready, driverless cars actually on the roads of South Korea and beyond by the end of 2022.
Kim Hyesung reports.
Hyundai Motor Group will set up a four billion U.S. dollar joint venture with Aptiv PLC, with both parties taking a 50 percent ownership stak in the new company.
The new entity will work to design, develop and commercialize autonomous vehicles.
In a statement Monday, Hyundai Motor Group said Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis will contribute a combined 1-point-six billion in cash and 400 million dollars in areas like engineering services and R&D.
Automotive technology company Aptiv on the other hand will provide its autonomous driving technology, intellectual property, and about 700 employees focused on the development of autonomous driving solutions.
The companies will appoint an equal number of directors in the venture, which will be based in Boston... with technology centers across the U.S., and Asia, including Korea.
This marks the biggest bet made by Hyundai Motor Group and the venture will begin testing fully driverless systems in 2020 and have a production-ready autonomous driving platform by 2022.
Hyundai said in February it plans to invest over 12 billion dollars in areas such as autonomous driving technologies, vehicle electrification and mobility services by 2023.
Kim Hyesung, Arirang News.