Hyundai partners Aurora for Level 4 autonomy in its cars

Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor has announced a strategic partnership with the Silicon Valley-based Aurora, a leader in autonomous vehicle technology, to launch self-driving Hyundai vehicles by 2021.

Under the partnership, Hyundai will incorporate Aurora's self-driving technology into vehicles starting with models custom-developed and launched in test programs and pilot cities. Over the longer term, Hyundai and Aurora will work to commercialise self-driving vehicles worldwide.

Initially, the partnership will focus on the ongoing development of hardware and software for automated and autonomous driving and the back-end data services required for Level 4 automation. As per the Society of Automotive Engineering (SAE), definition of a Level 4 autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that can operate without human input or oversight under select conditions. The goal of the partnership is to deploy autonomous driving quickly, broadly and safely.

"We know the future of transportation is autonomous, and autonomous driving technology needs to be proven in the real-world to accelerate deployment in a safe and scalable manner. Combining our advanced vehicle technology that embeds the latest safety features with Aurora's leading suite of Level 4 autonomous technology will advance this revolution in mobility with Hyundai in a leadership position." says Dr. Woong Chul Yang, vice-chairman, Hyundai Motor.

As per the announcement, the partners share a common vision of improving safety and mobility on the roads, and will together bring the skills and experience required to successfully introduce the technology to scale.

According to the company, over the past two decades, Aurora's founders have spearheaded the self-driving revolution, building teams and pioneering modern machine learning techniques now on the cusp of transforming transportation. 

"Aurora is excited to partner with Hyundai Motor to make the social benefits of self-driving available globally," says Dr. Chris Urmson, CEO of Aurora. "This partnership combines Hyundai's strengths in vehicle design, safety and manufacturing with Aurora's expertise in self-driving technologies to make a positive difference in the world."

Hyundai's new FCV to debut at CES 2018 
Hyundai Motors states that the partnership with Aurora is part of its ongoing efforts towards realising fully autonomous driving. In 2015 it first began testing autonomous vehicles on public roads in the USA , having been granted a license by the state of Nevada. Last year at the 2017 CES, Hyundai advanced its trials in urban environments, demonstrating self-driving technologies to the public with its autonomous Ioniq models.

This year the company will have the global debut of its latest new-generation fuel-cell vehicle at CES 2018, which opens in Las Vegas on January 7. It will become the first model to be utilised in the test processes starting this year.

Hyundai says the fuel-cell powertrain will offer an ideal platform to implement autonomous driving technologies, which requires a massive amount of power to support the large amount of data communication as well as the operation of hardware such as sensors. Hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles will be able to provide a stable electric power supply without concerns about driving range.