Hyundai and sister company Kia are strengthening their relationship with Aurora Innovation in a bid to accelerate the development of autonomous vehicle technologies.
The two Korean automakers began working with Aurora last year, testing self-driving systems using Hyundai’s flagship fuel cell vehicle, the NEXO. This latest investment will lead to expanding the research to a wider range of models.
“Aurora is the leading innovator of self-driving technology and we look forward to building a stronger collaborative partnership with them,” said Hyundai president and CIO, Youngcho Chi. “Working closely with industry leaders around the world will help us develop fully self-driving vehicles that are safe and innovative for our customers.”
Aurora’s self-driving system, the Aurora Driver, uses lidar (that’s laser radar), radar and cameras in order to analyze the vehicle’s surroundings and plan a safe path. Hyundai and Kia want their cars to be better at monitoring, reacting and adapting to different surroundings.
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“We are pleased with the progress made with the Hyundai and Kia teams,” stated Aurora co-founder Sterling Anderson. “Together with all of our ecosystem partners, we are seeing the convergence of a powerful platform that will deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly.”
As for what Hyundai and Kia’s future plans are, the group wants to begin selling Level 4 autonomous vehicles by the year 2021, while also launching a fleet of autonomous robo-taxis in smart cities – Hyundai presented a fleet of Level 4-capable vehicles at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games.
