Hyundai Motor teams up with Socar to gather real-road data for autonomous driving

Hyundai Motor is moving to collect autonomous driving data on domestic roads by tapping into Socar's vehicle fleet network, while also developing a dedicated vehicle platform for the segment. The automaker plans to use data gathered during actual operations to refine its autonomous driving technology and eventually develop vehicle platforms suited for robotaxi and other autonomous driving services.

Hyundai Motor announced Friday that it recently signed an MOU with Socar and Apex Mobility in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, to cooperate on autonomous driving vehicle platform supply and data collection. The signing ceremony was attended by Yu Ji-han, executive vice president and head of SDV Platform at Hyundai Motor and Kia, and Park Jae-wook, CEO of Socar and Apex Mobility.

The core of the agreement is to combine Hyundai Motor's autonomous driving vehicle development capabilities with Socar's large-scale fleet operations experience and Apex Mobility's autonomous driving service technology.

Apex Mobility is an autonomous driving specialist jointly controlled by Socar and game developer Krafton, with Socar holding approximately a 50 percent stake.

The three companies agreed to broaden the scope of their cooperation to cover technology and service validation for autonomous vehicles, driving data collection on domestic roads, dedicated vehicle platform development, and autonomous driving software demonstration.

As a first step, Hyundai Motor will supply Socar and Apex Mobility with a "dev kit" — a device that connects vehicles to autonomous driving systems. The two companies plan to install the kit in fleet vehicles they intend to operate domestically to validate the technology in real service conditions and improve operational efficiency.

The dev kit is a development device that enables a vehicle and an external autonomous driving system to exchange information. It is used in applying and testing autonomous driving technology in vehicles.

Hyundai Motor also plans to use the partnership to strengthen its autonomous driving vehicle foundry, or CMO, business, which involves developing and supplying vehicles tailored to the needs of companies that operate autonomous driving services. Reflecting technical requirements identified during actual operations in vehicle design is a key part of that effort.

Securing driving data specific to domestic roads is another major area of cooperation. Hyundai Motor will set the data collection criteria it needs, and Socar and Apex Mobility will gather the data using their existing fleet vehicles.

Korean roads present a wide range of variables, including complex intersections, motorcycles and illegally parked vehicles. Driving data collected in such conditions is expected to help improve the ability of autonomous driving AI to handle the country's traffic environment when used for training and validation.

Hyundai Motor also plans to incorporate real-world service operating experience into its vehicle platform development. The company intends to draw on Socar and Apex Mobility's expertise in fleet management and user service operations to develop vehicles suited for autonomous driving ride-hailing.

The goal is to design the platform with not just autonomous driving technology in mind, but also the actual service environment — including how passengers hail and board vehicles.

The agreement aligns with Hyundai Motor Group's broader strategy to advance autonomous driving technology. In September, the group unveiled a "data flywheel" strategy that connects data collected on real roads to AI training and validation, and then to vehicle application.

At the time, Hyundai Motor Group said it was working with Nvidia to apply Level 2+ autonomous driving technology to mass-production vehicles starting in 2028, and that it aimed to begin mass production of Level 2++ technology based on its in-house "Atria AI" in the second half of 2029.

The company has also been expanding its partnerships in the autonomous driving services space. Last month, it signed an MOU with the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Bus Transport Business Association to commercialize Level 4 autonomous city buses, with plans to develop dedicated autonomous driving buses and an operations control platform.

"Through this collaboration spanning autonomous vehicles, data and technology, we will continue working to invigorate the domestic autonomous driving service market and ecosystem," Yu said.