Hyundai announced Sept 23 it’s setting up a US$4bil autonomous-driving joint venture with Aptiv Plc, the company spun off from what used to be the parts division of General Motors. The two companies will join forces to develop the technology needed to put robotaxis on the road by 2022.
"We did meet with many other companies, but we were confident that Aptiv was really the best partner for us,” the executive vice chairman said of his visit to the US in November 2017. Because of the confidential nature of Hyundai’s deal with Aptiv, Chung said he hadn’t had the chance yet to personally explain the partnership to Chris Urmson, Aurora’s chief executive officer, before his interview with Bloomberg News.
Hyundai is doubling up on partnerships as several of the perceived leaders in the autonomous-vehicle field have struggled to safely take human hands off the steering wheel. In July, GM’s Cruise unit backed off plans to deploy robotaxis by the end of this year. Before that, Alphabet Inc’s Waymo – which planned to be the first to start a driverless ride-hailing service before the end of last year – chose to keep human safety drivers in the Chrysler minivans it’s deployed in suburban Phoenix.