Hyundai Mobis is stepping up its efforts to develop components for self-driving cars and electric vehicles as the world of future mobility is changing fast.
In 2018, Hyundai Mobis selected self-driving, electrification, and infotainment as the three key areas that will drive its future growth. The company has mapped out a large-scale investment plan for the three areas. It will invest about 4 trillion won to expand electrification facilities and 3 trillion to 4 trillion won in research and development (R&D) for future cars. It is making strategic investments worth about 150 billion won in domestic and foreign startups that have secured original technologies such as self-driving sensors.
These efforts have been paying off. Hyundai Mobis succeeded in developing a rear-end radar for self-driving cars for the first time in Korea in 2018. In 2019, the company secured four short, medium and long-range radar technologies that can check 360 degrees around a vehicle. Deep learning-based camera sensors are under development in cooperation with Korean startups. It has decided to secure technology for lidar sensors, a key component of self-driving, through strategic partnerships with U.S.-based Velodyne.
This year’s goal is to develop independent sensors for autonomous driving. It is planning to secure all technologies related to high-performance sensors that self-driving cars need to accurately understand external driving conditions. Hyundai Mobis is also planning to create a robot taxi cab with Self-Driving Level 4 or higher with Yandex, the top IT company in Russia. Level 4 is a complete self-driving stage in which a self-driving system can properly deal with unexpected situations. Drivers do not need to touch steering wheels.
In addition, the company recently invested about 30 billion won in Envisics, a British startup with advanced augmented reality (AR) technology to nurture its infotainment segment.
Source: www.businesskorea.co.kr