Hyundai will supply autonomous-driving DevKits to Socar and Apex Mobility under a data MOU

Hyundai Motor Company said on 13 November that it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Socar, a South Korean car-sharing company, and Apex Mobility on autonomous vehicle platforms and data collection, according to a release on the Hyundai Motor Group newsroom. Socar disclosed the agreement a day earlier in a voluntary filing on South Korea’s DART system, which gives 11 November as the signing date.

Under the agreement, Hyundai will supply Socar and Apex Mobility with DevKits, which it described as devices that connect a vehicle with an autonomous driving system, for fleet vehicles the two plan to operate in Korea. Hyundai will set the data-collection criteria, and Socar and Apex Mobility will collect Korean road data with the fleet vehicles they already run. The companies also plan to work on a dedicated vehicle platform for autonomous ride-hailing, which Hyundai said it would develop using the operators’ fleet experience, and on software proofs of concept.

Hyundai said the work is meant to strengthen its AV foundry business, under which it builds autonomous vehicles on contract. The signing was attended for Hyundai by Yoo Ji-han, vice president in charge of the SDV platform for Hyundai and Kia.

Socar’s filing says the memorandum runs for three years from signing and is not legally binding apart from provisions such as confidentiality. It says the agreement creates no payment or asset obligation and that scope, method and consideration will be set in separate contracts. Apex Mobility is a joint venture Socar controls jointly with Krafton, with a 50.0003 per cent stake, the filing says.