Hyundai Mobis and Yandex cooperate on cars

Hyundai Mobis is partnering with Yandex to develop an unmanned mobility system to be rolled out next year.

The auto parts maker said Wednesday it signed a memorandum of understanding with Yandex, a diversified technology company known as Russia’s Google, to jointly develop a system that will be used for an autonomous taxi service scheduled for operation from 2020.

As part of the agreement, Mobis will provide auto parts, such as sensors, and develop software. Yandex will contribute its artificial intelligence -based autonomous driving software.

The two companies will utilize Hyundai Motor’s newest-generation midsized Sonata sedan. The venture will introduce a fleet of up to 100 vehicles for the service in Russia.

“By working with Yandex, which holds an edge in autonomous vehicle algorithms, we expect to acquire competitiveness in unmanned mobility technology in the global stage,” said Park Chung-kook, CEO of Hyundai Mobis, at the signing ceremony held at the company’s research center in Yongin, Gyeonggi.

Yandex, which operates the dominant search engine in Russia, is an important player in the ride-sharing and ride-hailing business.

The company merged its ride-sharing service with U.S.-based Uber last year and reported a rapid increase in utilization since the combination.

The company is currently testing its autonomous ride-hailing service in Innopolis and Skolkovo, Russia, and testing its self-driving car in Moscow and Tel Aviv in Israel.

The Hyundai Mobis-Yandex collaboration comes as the self-driving car market is forecast to grow fast.

Frost & Sullivan expects the Level 4 highly-autonomous vehicle market size to grow to $41.62 billion by 2030 from $2.02 billion this year.

Level 4 vehicles can perform all primary driving functions without assistance.

Hyundai Mobis featured a Level 4 concept car at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year.

BY CHAE YUN-HWAN [chae.yunhwan@joongang.co.kr]