Hyundai Mobis partners with Qualcomm for autonomous driving

SEOUL, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- South Korean auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis, a Hyundai Motor affiliate, and U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm have agreed to partner in developing an autonomous driving system.

Under the agreement, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show, which ended Sunday in Las Vegas, Hyundai Mobis will work on developing an integrated autonomous driving controller that can scale up to level 3 based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Ride Platforms.

The controller is expected to enable Hyundai Mobis to construct within six months a software platform that can implement level 3 or higher autonomous driving.

Level 3 vehicles are designed to perform almost all of the driving tasks autonomously but with human override required under certain conditions.

Hyundai Mobis also teamed up recently with Ottopia, an Israeli start-up, to develop remote support solutions for self-driving in anticipation of the fully autonomous driving era of level 4 or higher.

"Moving forward, Hyundai Mobis will continue to form close, cooperative relationships with various partners to secure new technologies for future mobility," Hyundai Mobis said in a statement.

Experts point out that the global competition to achieve level 3 technology will get fiercer.

"The biggest issue right now for the driverless vehicle technology is the migration from level 2 to level 3, a very tall task," Daelim University automotive Professor Kim Pil-soo told UPI News Korea.

"To reach level 4 or level 5, meaning near complete automation, will still take some time. For right now, level 3 seems probably the most realistic target for the automakers and why they are striving so hard to achieve it," he said.

The share price of Hyundai Mobis rose 1.17% on the South Korean stock exchange Monday.