When you buy an electric vehicle from the Hyundai Motor Group, you're getting a car with lots of range, a ton of style, impressive performance and some of the finest charging speeds in the business.
What you are not getting is something that will let you take your hands off the wheel during a long highway road trip, or handle complex city streets, traffic lights, and turns under human supervision. And considering the scope of the Korean automaker's technology ambitions, that is becoming a major challenge.
Keeping up with the likes of Tesla, Waymo and General Motors' Super Cruise is about to be a major focus at Hyundai, according to multiple recent news reports. The Korea Herald reports that Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung visited the company's Korean autonomy subsidiary, called 42dot, earlier this week, and took a test ride in an autonomous Hyundai Ioniq 6.
That prototype is said to use an end-to-end autonomous driving system, meaning it takes raw sensor data from cameras, lidar, radar, and so on, then uses that data to train a singular AI to operate the vehicle. While a visit from the CEO isn't uncommon in the auto industry, The Korea Herald and other outlets say the move was meant to show Chung's confidence in what the group is developing.
And right now, Hyundai's autonomy efforts have felt a bit rudderless. 42dot was acquired by Hyundai in 2022, but its chief Song Chang-hyeon—who also led the automaker's Advanced Vehicle Platform division—stepped down recently. News reports from Korea said that his departure may be tied to the group's limited progress in self-driving tech. Besides well-known players like Waymo, Hyundai also has to contend with AV newcomers from China, many of whom are quickly making inroads into the rest of the world, just as they are with passenger cars.
Hyundai certainly isn't completely adrift in the world of autonomous driving. It has a joint venture with auto supplier Aptiv called Motional that has been testing prototype autonomous Ioniq 5s in several cities, including Las Vegas, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Singapore. And Hyundai is supplying Ioniq 5s to other AV services like startup Avride and, soon, Waymo. The Korean company also owns robotics giant Boston Dynamics and is working to integrate more automation into its factories.
But developing an end-to-end autonomous platform in-house, with minimal reliance on outside partners, is increasingly seen as key to delivering the future of mobility. (And it's a key driver of investor excitement right now, perhaps more than ever, especially with EV sales expected to slow in 2026.) In the near term, drivers have shown that they're willing to pay to subscribe to services like Super Cruise and Ford's BlueCruise.
On a long enough timeline, most automakers that want to move beyond just being car companies see the need for a centralized, connected and automated vehicle platform that can power everything from individual robotaxis to fleets of driverless shuttles. And since these platforms will rely mostly or entirely on electric vehicles, which are better platforms for AVs anyway, this convergence of technologies—AI, EVs, software and robotics—will likely drive more electric adoption in the future as well.
Hyundai certainly seems to get it. At CES in a few weeks, the automaker said it will unveil its "AI Robotics Strategy" that includes a new Boston Dynamics humanoid robot, AI learning and new approaches to automated factories. It is unclear if Hyundai will also make any announcements related to autonomous driving, but I wouldn't bet against it.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
