Hyundai Supports Aurora to Bring Driverless Systems to Kia and Hyundai Cars

Hyundai Motor Group is investing in Aurora, a developer of autonomous driving technologies for motor vehicles, with a plan to integrate systems with Hyundai and Kia models.

The companies have been working for one year on the development and integration of the "Aurora Pilot" in Hyundai NEXO fuel cell vehicles and other projects.

It is an extension of an existing partnership and reinforces the work that major automakers do with driverless technology developers. General Motors acquired Cruise in 2016 and Ford took a stake in Argo.ai the following year. Aurora always aims to provide autonomous systems to many different actors.

Aurora announced Monday a partnership with Fiat Chrysler for the development of autonomous vehicles for business, and the Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicles Byton.

In a press release, Sterling Anderson, co-founder and product manager at Aurora, formerly director of autopilot programs at Tesla, said the company's goal, along with its partners, is to "provide the advantages of autonomous driving technology safely, quickly and widely. " After apparently failing to acquire Aurora last summer, Volkswagen concluded a partnership with the company on Tuesday.

Aurora uses lidar sensors, or sensors and telemetry, in its autonomous systems. This is different from Tesla, which uses cameras and radars, primarily to power its "autonomous driving" and autopilot features.

Led by General Manager Chris Urmson, former technical leader of Google's self-driving efforts, Aurora has collected at least $ 700 million in total funding. Other investors include Amazon, Greylock, Sequoia, Shell Energy's venture capital group and T. Rowe Price. The size of Hyundai's investment has not been revealed.

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