Hyundai accelerates self-driving car commercialization in US

Hyundai Motor Company’s U.S.-based self-driving car joint venture Motional is accelerating its preparation for the commercialization of self-driving cars.

According to Hyundai Motor Company on Wednesday, Motional has been recently approved by the state of Nevada to test its autonomous vehicles without a human driver on public roads. Motional is the first to run self-driving tests without a driver behind the wheel in Nevada. While a member of the company will be present in the passenger seat for safety, Level 4 self-driving technologies will be examined on actual roads without a human driver. Level 4 refers to the autonomous driving system that does not involve human attention but has a driver’s seat for an emergency. The Chrysler Pacifica minivan will be used for tests.

Motional is one step closer to the commercialization of its self-driving taxis, or robotaxis, in 2022 with the recent test approval. The company, which is a joint venture formed in September 2019 between Hyundai Motor Company and U.S. self-driving company Aptiv with their respective investment of two billion dollars, has launched robotaxi pilot projects in Singapore, Las Vegas, etc.


Hyung-Seok Seo skytree08@donga.com