[Exclusive] Will Hyundai Overtake Tesla? Chairman Jung Euisun Steps In as Autonomous Driving Strategy Reaches Critical Juncture

Chairman Chung to Inspect Autonomous Driving Technology at 42dot
A Pivotal Moment for Hyundai Motor Group's Autonomous Driving Strategy
Industry: "42dot Faces Challenge of Proving E2E Capabilities"

Jung Euisun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, is scheduled to visit the Pangyo headquarters of 42dot soon to personally inspect the company's end-to-end (E2E) autonomous driving technology. This will be his first visit since the resignation of Song Changhyun, the former president of 42dot who led the development of autonomous driving technology. The move is seen as an effort to review the achievements to date and to reset the group’s strategic direction regarding autonomous driving technology.

According to industry sources on December 18, 42dot will demonstrate its test vehicle "XP2," equipped with E2E-based autonomous driving technology, to Chairman Jung and Hyundai Motor President Jang Jaehoon on December 24. Following a demonstration for group executives last week, the company is now making final preparations to showcase the technology to the group’s top management.

This visit is significant as it marks Chairman Jung’s direct inspection of 42dot’s technology following the resignation of former President Song. Industry observers view this not merely as a technical demonstration, but as an opportunity to comprehensively reassess the group’s overall autonomous driving strategy.

The demonstration is expected to serve as a key moment for determining whether E2E autonomous driving will become a core technological direction for the group. It will also be a turning point for strategic decisions regarding the role of 42dot within the software-defined vehicle (SDV) strategy, whether to internalize autonomous driving technology development, or to expand external collaborations across the autonomous driving sector.

Jung Euisun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. Provided by Hyundai Motor Group

On December 4, following the resignation of President Song, 42dot released a video demonstration of its E2E-based autonomous driving technology through its YouTube channel. The E2E-based autonomous driving system "Atria AI," developed by 42dot, uses eight cameras and one radar to recognize the surrounding environment, integrating input data into a single deep learning model. The entire process of perception, prediction, planning, and control is handled by the vehicle’s internal neural processing unit (NPU). 42dot explained, "The transition to an E2E technology stack was completed in October, and we are now in the phase of further enhancing its completeness by early March next year, which is a key milestone for the SDV pace car."

However, industry evaluations of 42dot remain skeptical. Former President Song, who also served as head of the Hyundai Motor and Kia Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP) division in 2021, had led the group’s overall autonomous driving strategy. Yet, after five years, the company has faced criticism for failing to deliver visible results convincing enough for the market.

Moreover, the recent introduction of Tesla’s "supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD)" in Korea has further highlighted the technological gap between Tesla and its competitors. While Tesla has advanced its technology based on vast real-world driving data, Hyundai Motor and Kia are seen as having failed to produce clear outcomes in their autonomous driving strategies.

The industry is now watching closely to see whether this demonstration can serve as a turning point for 42dot to regain technical credibility. Depending on the results, it is expected that not only 42dot’s role but also Hyundai Motor Group’s overall strategy for autonomous driving technology development will inevitably undergo changes.

An official from the autonomous driving sector commented, "If 42dot is to champion E2E autonomous driving, it must go beyond a simple demonstration and present accumulated real-world driving data along with continuous AI learning outcomes. The key will be whether the XP2 demonstration can prove not only the technological potential but also the scalability and reliability of the system."