Jeong Eui-sun Oversees Core Business in the US... Visits Autonomous Driving Company 'Motional'

Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Euisun Visits Autonomous Driving Joint Venture Motional
Reviews Progress on Next-Generation Autonomous Driving Platform Development
Discusses Business Area Advancement and Market Expansion Strategies with Local Employees

Chung Euisun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Chung Eui-sun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, who is on a business trip to the United States, visited affiliates developing future innovative technologies such as autonomous driving and robotics one after another to directly check the progress of their business.

According to Hyundai Motor Group on the 16th, Chairman Chung visited the headquarters of the autonomous driving company Motional, located in Boston, on the day he departed for the United States on the 13th.

He discussed the direction of technology development with Motional's management and toured the site of next-generation autonomous driving technology development, encouraging local engineers.

Hyundai Motor Group established Motional, a 50-50 joint venture with the U.S. autonomous driving specialist Aptiv, in March last year and is accelerating the development of the ultimate autonomous driving platform. This is the first time Chairman Chung has visited Motional since Hyundai Motor Group's investment announcement.

Chairman Chung also checked the collaborative projects between the two companies, including personally testing the Ioniq 5 equipped with Motional's next-generation autonomous driving platform. The Ioniq 5 is a vehicle equipped with Level 4 autonomous driving technology and is a model that integrates all the autonomous driving technologies Motional has accumulated so far.

In addition, he plans to visit Motional's Pittsburgh base, which plays a key role in developing autonomous driving core technologies, to inspect autonomous vehicle design and modification facilities and infrastructure, and to listen to researchers' opinions.

Motional is currently testing the next-generation autonomous driving platform applied to Hyundai's dedicated electric vehicle model, the Ioniq 5, on test roads in the United States. After Hyundai and Motional engineers further advance the related technologies, they will be deployed in the robo-taxi commercialization service being promoted with Lyft.

A Hyundai Motor official said, "The robo-taxi service using the Ioniq 5 combines electrification and autonomous driving technology, the two pillars of recent mobility trends, and is expected to be a signal heralding the future mobility revolution."

Also Visited Robot Company Boston Dynamics

Following Motional, Chairman Chung also visited the headquarters of Boston Dynamics, which Hyundai Motor Group is in the process of acquiring, and exchanged overall opinions with local management about the future and trends of the robotics industry.

He personally toured various advanced robotic technologies of Boston Dynamics, including the mass-produced quadruped robot 'Spot,' the bipedal humanoid robot 'Atlas,' and 'Stretch,' capable of loading and unloading up to 23kg of cargo.

Boston Dynamics started in 1992 as an in-house venture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is currently recognized as having the world's best technology in comprehensive aspects essential for robot operation, such as autonomous walking, cognition, and more.

A company official explained, "Hyundai Motor Group's acquisition of Boston Dynamics is in response to the expected rapid growth of the global robotics market due to technological innovation and demand for automated robots," adding, "Hyundai Motor Group plans to nurture robotics as a core future business area to provide customers with a higher level of experience and value beyond expectations."