Hyundai is reportedly looking for a partnership with Chinese companies aiming to accelerate its autonomous driving tech, including Baidu, Momenta and XPeng.
South Korean Maeil Business Newspaper said this Thursday that discussions with Guangzhou-based automaker XPeng are ongoing, citing industry sources.
XPeng, which recently confirmed its entry in the South Korean market, without specifying dates, has announced on Wednesday that it is advancing towards robotaxi mass production in 2026.
According to an autonomous driving industry insider, if a tech partnership is formed, initial testing will take place in China, “due to map data and technical standards that differ by country.”
“After gradual refinement, the technology could later be commercialized region by region,” the source added.
Switch from In-House to Partnerships
Hyundai initially focused on developing autonomous driving technology in-house. In 2022, it acquired the startup 42dot and launched an advanced vehicle platform (AVP) division to develop the technology.
At the same time, Hyundai collaborates with Google’s self-driving unit, Waymo, in the United States, and pursues autonomous driving development through Motional, a joint venture with Aptiv, a longtime supplier for General Motors.
Recently, after securing a commitment from Nvidia to supply 50,000 GPUs, Hyundai has begun strengthening its global collaboration strategy by forming technical partnerships with Chinese firms.
This approach goes beyond simple technical alliances, also supporting Hyundai‘s broader goal of expanding and strengthening its presence in the Chinese market.
Hyundai in China
Last month, five months after its initial reveal, Hyundai opened pre-sale orders for the Elexio, a China-specific fully electric SUV.
The Elexio is built on a separate platform, demonstrating Hyundai‘s intent to manage the Chinese market independently.
The brand also describes the model as having a “family-centric design.”
The vehicle offers a competitive range of 722 km (about 449 miles), with pre-sale prices starting at 130,000 yuan ($18,240).
Momenta reportedly contributed autonomous driving technology during Elexio’s development.
The Chinese startup has also partnered with German automaker Mercedes-Benz on the fully electric CLA model and is working with Uber to expand into Europe’s robotaxi market.
XPeng AD Integration
Last month, CarNewsChina reported that the first vehicle to feature XPeng’s autonomous driving software will be a mid-size SUV from German automaker Volkswagen.
In 2023, Volkswagen partnered with XPeng to jointly develop two mid-size fully electric models for the Chinese market.
Earlier this year, the partnership expanded to include hybrid and internal combustion engine (ICE) models.
Volkswagen invested approximately $700 million for a 4.99% stake in XPeng back in 2023.
During a media roundtable after its AI Day event, founder and CEO He Xiaopeng confirmed plans for Volkswagen to integrate XPeng‘s autonomous driving software, with mass production of the vehicle set for 2026.
He also announced that XPeng plans to open-source its autonomous driving stack for commercial partners, including chips, EEA architecture, and VLA/VLM models.
