Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — Hyundai Motor Group has postponed the launch of vehicles equipped with its own advanced driver-assistance system until late 2029, pushing back its original timetable by two years. During the transition, the automaker plans to expand cooperation with US-based Nvidia to accelerate the deployment of the technology.
Hyundai and Nvidia will jointly develop and deploy advanced Level 2+ and Level 2++ driver-assistance systems in 2028, a representative of the South Korean company said.
The delay reflects Hyundai’s difficulties in developing automated-driving software independently. The company had originally planned to introduce the technology by the end of 2027.
The change in strategy has also raised concerns about Hyundai’s growing reliance on Nvidia and its lag behind Tesla and Chinese competitors in commercialising autonomous-driving technologies.
“Our partnership with Nvidia does not mean we are completely putting our fate in their hands,” Hyundai Motor Group President Park Min-woo said at a media briefing.
According to Park, Hyundai will develop the technologies jointly with Nvidia and use data generated by the system to train and improve its own Atria software platform.
Park, who previously worked at Nvidia and joined Hyundai in January, has led efforts to deepen cooperation between the two companies.
His approach differs from that of his predecessor, Son Chang-hyun, who focused on developing software independently before leaving the company in December.
Hyundai vehicles based on Nvidia’s Hyperion 10 platform will initially not be equipped with expensive lidar systems. Instead, the company plans to use cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar.
At the same time, Hyundai is considering using lidar in Level 3 automated-driving systems. Such technologies allow drivers to take their hands off the steering wheel under certain conditions. The company has not yet specified a timeline for commercialising Level 3 systems.
Park said Hyundai considers sensor redundancy necessary to ensure safety, allowing other sensors to maintain the system’s safe operation if one sensor fails.
Hyundai and its affiliate Kia, which together rank third globally among automakers with annual sales of more than 7 million vehicles, plan to use the scale of their global vehicle fleet to collect data and train autonomous-driving technologies.
Hyundai expects to surpass competitors in the volume of accumulated driving data by 2033.
Hyundai’s cooperation with Nvidia also covers autonomous-driving technologies, AI-powered data centres and humanoid robots developed by Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics.
Level 2+ systems generally provide advanced driver-assistance functions on highways, while Level 2++ systems are designed for more complex driving scenarios in urban environments. Both technologies, however, require continuous driver supervision.
