Hyundai Motor brings autonomous, air mobility to fore in New Year plan

Hyundai Motor Group chief said Monday that the automaker will materialize its vision of becoming a smart mobility provider in autonomous driving and urban air mobility this year, attempting a shift in its focus from manufacturing to auto software.

In his New Year‘s address, Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Euisun said the company will make no delay to its plan to mass produce the Ioniq 5 loaded with Level 4 technology by 2023. He said the Ioniq 5’s Level 4 autonomous driving will test operations in the first half of this year in Seoul. 

“We will solidify the ground to become the top-tier eco-friendly brand which customers can trust and be satisfied with,” he said during a pre-recorded speech in Live Station, a metaverse platform set up by the company. 

The world’s fifth-largest carmaker will expand its robotics business with Boston Dynamics, a US company it acquired a controlling stake of 80 percent last year.

It plans to release a logistics robot called Stretch in the market this year as well as testing self-driving vehicles -- namely RoboRide and RoboShuttle -- on actual roads.

At the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show, slated to take place in Las Vegas from Wednesday to Friday, Chung is expected to unveil the key direction of its robotics technology business, as well as unveil its core robotics technology-based Plug & Drive robotics module platform for the first time.

Though still immature, Hyundai will speed up commercialization of its air mobility service by 2028.

Chung said the automaker has been closely working with its partners to develop its air mobility business model, airstrip construction and data and telecommunication platform building sectors.

According to South Korea‘s transport ministry estimates, the value of the local UAM market is expected to grow to 13 trillion won by 2040. Last year, the automaker joined hands with Incheon Airport Corp., KT, Korean Air and Hyundai E&C to work on UAM business. 

Although the company seeks to become a total smart mobility solution provider, it will also create synergy with the current finished car manufacturing business by realigning business portfolio and value chain. 

Last year, the company unveiled its carbon neutrality plan by 2045 to completely remove combustion-engine models from its lineup. In the latest company reshuffle, the automaker eliminated the engine development center from its R&D unit and replaced it with a battery development center.

The company is preparing to release more diverse EV models this year, including a sedan version of Ioniq 6 and the next-generation Kona EV, an electric version of GV70 and an upgraded Niro EV, as well as EV6’s high-performance version.

According to the group, its EV sales target this year is 220,000, about 57 percent more compared to estimated 2021 total sales figure at 140,000. 

Hyundai Motor Group President Chang Jae-hoon said in an interview last September that the group’s EV lineup will increase to 13 different models with the introduction of a new EV production platform that is different from E-GMP, which was used for production of Ioniq 5.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)