Hyundai Mobis, the parts department of Hyundai/KIA, has announced it aims to step up its efforts in the development of AVs, with plans for partnerships with other companies, a larger fleet of AV test vehicles, and an AV R&D workforce that will grow by 15% per year.
The company will expand its R&D budget to 10% of its parts sales by 2021 (from 7%), with 50% of that going to ICT, which includes autonomous driving. This extra investment also makes room for an AV R&D workforce of over 1,000 people by 2021 and a bigger AV test fleet: by next year, it will have 20 M.Billy test cars, up from the current three.
In addition, it has signed partnerships with SMS and ASTYX to develop radars. Hyundai Mobis will work with SMS for entry-level front and side radars and with ASTYX for high-performance front radars. It will also run a joint R&D project with Seoul National University to improve the object recognition of radars.
Last year, Hyundai Mobis completed its 300bn Won (US$279.1m) proving ground near Seosan, which will play a big role in the development of AV equipment.
By Illya Verpraet