Hyundai to Launch In-House Driver Software in Late 2029

Hyundai Motor Group says it will begin offering vehicles fitted with its own proprietary autonomous driving software in late 2029, a plan that represents a two-year delay from the automaker's original target of late 2027. To accelerate development and close that gap, Hyundai has entered a collaboration with US chipmaker Nvidia and plans interim releases of advanced driver assistance systems in 2028.

Partnership, hardware and sensor strategy

Under the arrangement, Hyundai will deploy Level 2+ and a higher-capability variant described as Level 2++ driver-assistance systems in 2028. These systems are still assistance features that require driver supervision and readiness to take control. Hyundai says its longer-term proprietary software platform, named Atria, will be trained and strengthened using data gathered from the joint systems built on Nvidia's Hyperion 10 hardware and sensor suite.

Hyundai will initially use Hyperion 10 without expensive lidar sensors, relying instead on cameras, ultrasonic sensors and a single radar. Company executives say lidar will be introduced for Level 3 systems, which can relieve the driver in limited conditions, but they have not set a firm timeline for Level 3 availability. Hyundai also emphasizes the need for redundant sensors so that if one sensor fails others can maintain vehicle guidance.

Park Min-woo, a senior Hyundai executive who joined the company in January after a prior role at Nvidia, has been a key factor in strengthening ties between the two firms. Park stressed that the collaboration does not amount to handing Hyundai's future to Nvidia; rather, Hyundai intends to design the technology jointly and use the collected data to develop and improve Atria. The approach differs from that of former chief executive Song Chang-hyun, who focused on fully internal software development before his sudden departure in December.

Hyundai Motor Group, which with Kia sells more than 7 million vehicles annually, plans to leverage its global fleet to collect driving data. The company expects to surpass competitors in the volume of data collected by 2033. Hyundai also says its collaboration with Nvidia will extend beyond autonomous-driving software to include artificial intelligence data centers and robotics work with Boston Dynamics.

Hyundai aims to ship cars running its own autonomous software in late 2029, using Nvidia technology as an accelerator while retaining responsibility for developing and training its Atria platform.