Hyundai to launch in-house driver-assist software in 2029, two years behind schedule

Hyundai Motor Group will introduce vehicles running its own driver-assistance software in late 2029, a two-year slippage from its original late-2027 target, as the South Korean automaker turns to Nvidia to speed up deployment in the meantime.

Under the arrangement, Hyundai will work with the U.S. chipmaker to bring advanced driver-assistance systems, or ADAS, at Level 2+ and Level 2++ to market in 2028, according to Park Min-woo, a president at Hyundai Motor Group. He spoke at a media briefing.

The revised timeline highlights the difficulty Hyundai has encountered in building automated driving software internally, and it has drawn attention to the company's growing dependence on Nvidia. The delay has also raised concerns that Hyundai may lose further ground to Tesla and Chinese competitors in the race to commercialise vehicle autonomy.

Park, a former Nvidia executive who joined Hyundai in January, has driven the group's closer ties with the chipmaker. His approach differs from that of his predecessor, Song Chang-hyeon, who placed heavy emphasis on in-house software development before leaving abruptly in December.

"Our partnership with Nvidia is not about leaving our destiny entirely in their hands," Park said, explaining that Hyundai will co-design the technology with Nvidia and use data generated by the system to train and improve its own software platform, called Atria.

Vehicles built on Nvidia's Hyperion 10 platform will at first rely on cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar rather than costly lidar, Park said. Hyundai is weighing lidar for its Level 3 automated systems, which permit hands-off driving under certain conditions.

"To truly ensure safety, we believe sensor redundancy is critical: if one sensor fails, others must be able to maintain safe operation," Park said. He did not give a timeline for commercialising Level 3.

Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Corp, which together form the world's third-largest automaker with annual sales of more than 7 million vehicles, intend to use that global fleet scale to collect data for training their autonomous driving technology, Park said. The company expects to overtake rivals in accumulated driving data by 2033.

The group is also widening its collaboration with Nvidia across autonomous driving, artificial intelligence data centres and humanoid robots developed by Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics.

Level 2+ generally describes more capable driver-assistance systems that operate on highways, while Level 2++ systems can manage more complex urban driving, similar to Tesla's Full Self-Driving system. Both still require the driver to supervise.