Korea-based automaker Hyundai has joined with autonomous-vehicle (AV) technology provider Aurora to bring fully-self-driving vehicles to market by 2021, integrating its self-driving technology with Hyundai vehicles. Starting in ‘smart’ cities that have the appropriate infrastructure, Hyundai and Aurora will work to commercialize autonomous vehicles worldwide over the longer term. The partnership’s goal ‘is to deploy autonomous driving quickly, broadly and safely,’ Hyundai said in a statement. While they can operate in select conditions without human direction, Level 4 AVs still have steering wheels, accelerator and brake pedals; Level 5 does away entirely with human intervention, including steering wheels and pedals. Hyundai said AV technology ‘needs to be proven in the real world’ to accelerate deployment in a safe and scalable manner.
Level 4 autonomous vehicles operate without a driver, but there’s a steering wheel and pedals for intervention. (PHOTO: HYUNDAI)
