Hyundai Motor eyes acquisition of Korean lidar-free self-driving startup 42dot

Hyundai Motor is considering increasing its stake in, or fully acquiring, the South Korea-based lidar-free autonomous mobility platform 42dot, the latest signal of its growing interest in the fast-growing space.

A spokesperson of 42dot told TechCrunch that the startup is in talks with Hyundai Motor, but cautioned that terms including stake size and deal valuation hadn’t materialized yet. Hyundai Motor did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

Hyundai currently owns a 20.4% stake in the three-year-old startup, whereas 42dot’s co-founder and chief executive Chang-Hyeon Song, who interestingly also leads the transportation-as-a-service (TaaS) team at Hyundai Motor, held a 36.19% stake as of December 2021, according to 42dot’s regulatory filing. The rest is owned by venture capital firms and strategic investors, including LG Electronics, SK Telecom, Lotte Rental, CJ Logistics and LIG Nex1.

The ongoing deliberation signals Hyundai Motor’s accelerating efforts to strengthen its autonomous driving technology that is in line with the Korean automaker’s grand plan to invest $79 billion (95.5 trillion WON) through 2030 into autonomous driving software technology and electric vehicle-related businesses. Hyundai Motor, which has said it aims to secure 7% of the global electric vehicle market by 2030, earmarked $9.2 billion (12 trillion WON) for connectivity and autonomous driving software investment.

The news comes nearly nine months after 42dot raised $88.5 million in its Series A financing round at a valuation of about $425 million to accelerate its TaaS service and urban mobility operation system (UMOS).

South Korean local media Korean Economic Daily first reported the news, citing anonymous sources, that Hyundai is in talks to invest at least 400 billion WON (~$306.4 million) in 42dot. According to the newspaper, Hyundai approached 42dot for the acquisition in June. The proposed deal could be completed this month, the paper said.

Founded in 2019 by former Apple, Microsoft and Naver alum Song, 42dot has developed Akit, a self-driving software and hardware solution, and TAP, an autonomous mobility and logistics platform that offers a number of services across ride-hailing, fleet management, demand-responsive transport, smart logistics and more.

Rolls-Royce and Hyundai partner on air taxi hydrogen fuel system

Rolls-Royce and Hyundai are partnering to develop a fuel-cell electric propulsion system for advanced air mobility.

The collaboration, announced Tuesday at the Farnborough Airshow in the U.K., will combine Rolls-Royce’s aviation expertise with Hyundai’s hydrogen fuel cell technology. Together, the automakers aim to deliver a joint fuel-cell electric aircraft demonstration by 2025.

Aerospace could be the next frontier for automakers that can find ways to apply electric and hydrogen propulsion technology to conveyances beyond cars. Hyundai has earmarked $1.4 billion for flying taxis in South Korea by 2025. Toyota and General Motors are also developing technology to gain a foothold in the burgeoning business. Honda is moving forward with plans to build a hybrid eVTOL aircraft after demonstrating a concept last year.

Rolls-Royce, a long-time builder of airplane engines, is no slouch in the skies, either. The ultra-luxury British and mass-market Korean brands will work together to create hydrogen fuel cells, storage systems and infrastructure for aerospace that they can apply to their own electrified vehicles.

“The Advanced Air Mobility Market offers great commercial potential, and this collaboration supports our joint ambitions to lead the way in the Advanced Air Mobility Market,” Rob Watson, president of Rolls-Royce Electrical, said in a statement.

Air mobility is also becoming a major focus for Hyundai and one of four core areas where it plans to allocate $10 billion in U.S. operations by 2025. The automaker also revealed at the air show a five-passenger eVTOL vehicle cabin concept developed with its urban air mobility subsidiary, Washington DC-based Supernal.

 

Hyundai to electrify high-performance N brand

Hyundai said Thursday it will begin building electric vehicles under its high-performance N brand created to compete with luxury sports cars from Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

The automaker said the Ioniq 5 N, high-performance version of its battery-electric SUV, will launch in 2023. Hyundai also premiered Thursday two high-performance concepts — RN22e and N Vision 74 – to test technology for future models. Neither concept is confirmed for production.

Hyundai shared details this week on its upcoming Ioniq 6 battery-electric sedan, which is designed to challenge the Tesla Model 3 for the sales crown. The Ioniq 6 will travel 610 kilometers on a fully charged battery, based on the European WLTP test cycle. That’s about on par with the Model 3’s Long Range version.

The RN22e concept uses the Ioniq 6’s body design as well as its Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) that enables its extended range. The N Vision 74 concept, which draws inspiration from both the Hyundai N 2025 Vision Gran Turismo and 1974 Hyundai Pony Coupe concept, is a high-performance hydrogen fuel cell hybrid model.

Both are designed to showcase Hyundai’s vision for its future as it attempts to evolve from a budget-friendly mainstream automaker to a top global luxury EV maker. The first two models in the Ioniq brand – the Ioniq 5 SUV and Ioniq 6 – showcase eye-catching silhouettes and sleek, luxurious interiors trimmed with sustainable materials.

The N brand was created in 2016 to establish real performance credentials for Hyundai. The N stands for Germany’s famed racetrack in Nürburgring, where Hyundai’s Technical Center tests its N models. It was an unusual strategy for a mainstream brand to go head-to-head with cars from BMW M, Mercedes AMG, Audi RS and Cadillac V-series, but Hyundai is now making clear its aspirations to go upscale and compete in the luxury segment.

True N cars serve as low-volume halo vehicles. Hyundai declined to say how many Ioniq 5 Ns it will build.

Hyundai reveals the IONIQ 6 EV sedan, the eagerly-anticipated follow-up to its IONIQ 5

Hyundai previewed the IONIQ 6 sedan Wednesday, the heavily-anticipated followup to the brand’s popular first battery-electric model, the IONIQ 5 SUV.

The automaker won’t announce details such as the IONIQ 6’s price range, and production run size until the vehicle’s world premiere in July.

The South Korea automaker that staked its reputation over the past few decades on affordable, entry-level gas-engine cars performed an about-face this year, reallocating investments and resources to position itself as a top global brand for EVs before sales worldwide begin to surge.

So far, the plan to infuse IONIQ models with cachet and desire is working. The first model from Hyundai’s IONIQ sub-brand, the Hyundai IONIQ 5 SUV, swept the World Car Awards at this year’s New York International Auto Show thanks to its sleek looks, performance, and futuristic interior. A similar excitement appears to be growing around the forthcoming Hyundai IONIQ 6.

Like the Hyundai IONIQ 5 SUV, the IONIQ 6 displays aerodynamic sculpting and interior trim made from sustainable materials. Hyundai designers sought to create a customized, cocoon-like cabin with new lighting features and more screens.

Hyundai IONIQ 6 interior

Hyundai IONIQ 6 interior

The transition has meant re-allocating Hyundai’s investment dollars, resources, and existing infrastructure to leverage its new bread and butter. That includes investing more than $10 billion toward accelerating electrification and autonomous vehicle technology in the U.S. by 2025. $5.5 billion is earmarked for its new EV plant and battery manufacturing facility in Georgia, which is expected to produce at least some of the 23 battery-electric nameplates Hyundai plans to offer by 2025.

The company said the IONIQ 6’s single-curved aerodynamic profile and carefully crafted contours create Hyundai’s lowest drag coefficient of 0.21.

“IONIQ 6 connects an emotional convergence of functionality with aesthetics,” SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai Design Center, said in a statement. “We have created the IONIQ 6 as a mindful cocoon that offers a personalized place for all.”

Hyundai, which leads the automotive industry in creating the most partnerships with suppliers and technology providers, has made a successful transition from budget-oriented gas-engine cars to premium EVs.

Hyundai IONIQ 6 EV

Image Credits: Hyundai

Hyundai’s capital investment in the Peach State represents the largest economic development deal recruited by Georgia, officials said. Hyundai’s plans call for creating just over 8,000 jobs at the 2,293-acre site.

The additional capacity will support Hyundai’s ambitious goal to become a top-three EV provider in the U.S. by 2026. Its battery manufacturing facility will help Hyundai establish a stable supply chain.

Hyundai was not immediately available for comment Wednesday morning.

To succeed in the mass market, EV makers must focus on cost, not speed

As the global EV industry ramps up and crosses into the mass market, automakers must switch their focus from speed to cost, according to the AlixPartners 2022 Global Automotive Outlook released Wednesday.

The world is continuing to electrify, with sales of battery-electric vehicles set to make up half the global vehicle market by 2035, the report said, compared with 8.3% in 2021.

Now that EV sales are hurtling toward an inflection point in 2024, the industry is maturing beyond the first mover advantage that prioritized speed by putting batteries into cars originally designed for gas engines.

“You just fundamentally can’t compete on a cost basis with that approach,” said Mark Wakefield, the Detroit-based global co-leader of AlixPartners’ automotive and industrial practice. “To hit that that mass market, it absolutely needs to be a ground-up EV design.”

Automakers plan to invest $526 billion toward developing EVs through 2026. That’s a significant jump over the $330 billion on a rolling five-year period they announced last year.

Part of the adoption boom predicted in the report will be fueled by choice: AlixPartners projects that consumers in 2024 will have 212 battery-electric models to choose among, compared with 80 nameplates in 2021.

Notable models that have moved the industry forward include the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which swept the 2022 World Car of the Year awards, as well as the Toyota Bz4X and forthcoming BMW i5, said Elmar Kades, the Munich-based co-leader of the firm’s automotive and industrial practice.

However, the chip supply will be a constraint through 2024. The lack of supply is forcing the industry to follow Enzo Ferrari’s philosophy of delivering one fewer car than the market demands.

“All the manufacturers have been forced into that bucket,” Wakefield said. “There is no benefit to defecting and trying to produce more.”

Instead, success in the electrified future depends upon partnerships and joint ventures, Kades said. The report found that Hyundai has created the most partnerships, followed by the world’s two largest automakers, Volkswagen and Toyota.

Said Kades, “Companies like Hyundai, which were value cars in the past and now catching up and taking the B[attery]EV technology to produce more premium cars, change the whole landscape.”

Hyundai plans to spend $10B on EVs, AVs and robotics in the US by 2025

Hyundai said it plans to invest more than $10 billion toward accelerating electrification and autonomous vehicle technology in the U.S. by 2025.

Part of that pot includes the $5.5 billion it has earmarked for a new EV plant and battery manufacturing facility in Georgia that Hyundai announced Friday. Non-affiliated suppliers are contributing another $1 billion into that project pushing the total cost to $6.5 billion.

The remaining $4.5 billion of Hyundai’s total U.S. investment will go into what the automaker has identified as “key future businesses.” In Hyundai’s view, key future businesses translates to robotics, AI technologies, advanced air mobility and autonomous driving capability. Notably, Hyundai said it will invest its funds through joint ventures and subsidiaries.

The investment will also help Hyundai upgrade R&D operations for its Kia and Genesis brands, the company said.

EVs and batteries

The new EV factory is the largest economic development deal recruited by Georgia, according to officials. The 2,923-acre site is slated to break ground early next year and begin commercial production in the first half of 2025 with an annual capacity of 300,000 units.

The operations will help Hyundai toward its goal of becoming a top-three EV provider in the U.S. by 2026. Mainly powered by renewable energy sources, the plant will use a highly connected, automated and flexible manufacturing system where robots will assist human workers, Hyundai said.

Hyundai said the plant will produce some of the 23 EVs it plans to roll out by 2025. Its battery manufacturing facility will help Hyundai establish a stable supply chain.

Robotics

In 2020, Hyundai purchased from SoftBank an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics, in a deal that valued the mobile robotics firm at $1.1 billion. Part of its $10 billion investment announced Sunday will go toward creating a robotics value chain, from component manufacturing to logistics.

Boston Dynamics has launched its first two commercial robots, Spot and Stretch, to work in a variety of industries. Spot is being tapped for use in the power utilities, construction, manufacturing, oil and gas and mining industries. Stretch, which is a robot arm that moves boxes, is being marketed for use in warehouse facilities and distribution centers.

The money will also support the Hyundai subsidiary New Horizons Studio, which works on Ultimate Mobility Vehicles such as the Tiger, an autonomous cargo carrier equivalent in size to a carry-on suitcase.

AVs

In 2019, Hyundai established a $4 billion joint venture with Aptiv, a global supplier developing AV technology. Motional, the resulting AV technology company, is currently piloting autonomous driving technology on the Lyft and Via ride-share apps in Las Vegas.

Hyundai said it will “actively support Motional,” meaning the company intends to investment more money into the venture as it progresses toward commercial operations.

Motional will put Hyundai robotaxis, based on the brand’s Ioniq 5 EV, on Lyft’s network in Las Vegas next year, Chief Technology Officer Laura Major said at the TechCrunch Mobility conference on Wednesday. The cars will come with human safety operators but should be able to navigate hotel drop-off and pickup maneuvers autonomously.

Air mobility

With an eye on the sky, Hyundai launched last year Washington D.C.-based Supernal to figure out how to integrate air mobility into existing networks for intermodal travel.

The venture is developing an app for customers to plan their journey using a mix of cars, trains, advanced air mobility, eVTOLs and e-scooters. It aims to begin commercial service in 2028.

Hyundai to open $6.5B EV factory in Georgia

Hyundai is the latest automaker to announce plans to open an EV factory in Georgia, the same state where Rivian is preparing to break ground on its controversial plant.

Hyundai’s $6.5 billion EV and battery manufacturing facility outside of Savannah will further the state’s goal of becoming a major regional hub for the EV industry. As sales of electric vehicles start to surge, the Peach State aims to establish a statewide, closed-loop battery-electric ecosystem that includes rare earth mining, battery and chip production, and auto parts manufacturing, according to state officials.

Hyundai’s capital investment, which includes $1 billion from non-affiliated suppliers, represents the largest economic development deal recruited by Georgia, officials said Friday. Hyundai expects to create 8,100 jobs at the 2,293-acre site.

Georgia has become aggressive in its efforts to attract manufacturers, awarding Rivian the state’s largest-ever incentives package of $1.5 billion to build a plant on 2,000 acres east of Atlanta. In return, Rivian has pledged to hire 7,500 workers at an average annual salary of $56,000 by the end of 2028. However, the project has stirred up local controversy; residents have rallied around concerns ranging from land preservation to the use of tax dollars.

The issue became political, as opponents of the Rivian plant mobilize against Gov. Brian Kemp ahead of his race for re-election in November.

Rivian plans to break ground this summer and open by early 2024.

Hyundai’s site represents a collaboration among four Georgia counties that used proceeds from selling property to Amazon to help fund the $61 million land purchase. The partnership which calls itself the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority (JDA), pooled the plots to create a “shovel-ready mega-site” for a large manufacturer.

Hyundai said the plant will begin production in 2025 with the capacity to build 300,000 vehicles per year.

Officials hope to replicate the model to attract more mega-site manufacturing projects to the state.

SK On, a South Korean EV lithium-ion battery maker, is building a $2.6 billion EV battery complex nearby. The company, which said its plant will be able to power 310,000 electric vehicles annually, has contracts with Ford and Volkswagen.

Tekion, the automotive retail platform headed by a former Tesla CIO, just tripled in value

A year ago, we told you about the opportunity that former Tesla CIO Jay Vijayan was chasing. His plan? To pull car dealers into the 21st century with a snazzy end-to-end automative SaaS platform like the one he helped develop inside Tesla. Customers could use it to order a car to their precise specifications; dealers could use it to see in real time to understand their inventory and seamlessly check in customers for service appointment; OEMs could use it to see exactly which of their parts were where, relative to said dealerships.

The list of ways the software would produce savings and improve efficiencies for both dealers and OEMs went on and on, as Vijayan explained it. Apparently, his Pleasanton, Calif., company, Tekion, is gaining meaningful traction, too.

According to Vijayan, the company’s revenue has grown threefold over the last year; the number of states where dealers are using Tekion’s software has grown to 39 from 28; and the company just began working with its first dealership in Canada as part of a plan to become an international outfit.

Accordingly, the company is today announcing $250 million in Series D financing that bumps its valuation a year ago from $1 billion to $3.5 billion today, and its total funding from $185 million to $435 million. Alkeon Capital and Durable Capital co-led the round. Other investors include Hyundai Motor Company, several dealer groups across the U.S., and earlier backers Advent International, Index Ventures and FM Capital.

Interestingly, the global chip shortage and other parts-supply disruptions that drove down new vehicles sales down a whopping 26% last month, is only having a positive impact on Tekion, and a recent piece in Morning Brew suggests why.

When the outlet talked with the president of an automotive group in Columbus, Ohio, he said that because inventory is scarce, a sale that would have taken four hours to make before the chip shortage now closes in 52 minutes. That scarcity is also driving profits through the roof, with buyers paying more for both new and used inventory, and auto retailers benefiting from lower operating costs with less inventory. (A dealership in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., tells Morning Brew that its profits jumped 197% in Q1 2021 compared to Q1 2020.)

Courtesy of tech from Tekion and some of its legacy competitors, retailers are presumably also able to operate faster when it comes to servicing the consumers who are waiting out the shortage and hoping to make their cars last longer.

“The supply is less but the demand is strong, so everyone is making a lot of money,” Vijayan tells TechCrunch. “The dealers, the OEMs — they’re making a good amount of margin.”

Tekion, Vijayan adds, has been “very strong through that growth,” but he anticipates that next year will be even better when he foresees that inventory will begin to catch up to demand.

“I believe sometime next year there will be some level of correction in the market and that our technology platform will help both dealers and OEMs navigate the correction much more smoothly because it will continue to learn and evolve to provide insights on where they should focus their business.”

In the meantime, the growth of Tekion — whose operations are split between California and Bangalore, India —  appears to largely organic. Though the automotive world is known for spending lavishly on marketing and for aggressive sales tactics, just 17 of Tekion’s employees now 1,350 employees work in sales. “We don’t spend any money in marketing, or it’s very negligible. [We’re growing through] word of mouth,” Vijayan says.

A deal struck back in March with General Motors — which is an early investor in Tekion, as is BMW and the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance — is also surely helping. Though it’s up to each franchise to opt in or out, GM dealers broadly are beginning to use Tekion’s white-labeled dealer management software to make it easier for customers to purchase an Chevy, Cadillac, Buick or GMC brand electric vehicle.

The platform reportedly operates similar to  GM’s existing Shop. Click. Drive. program, which allows users to search for certain GM vehicles at dealerships near them and complete a portion of the transaction online. It’s a lot better, though. So said one Chevrolet VP in conversation earlier this year with Automotive News, who described Tekion’s software as akin to GM’s internal program “on steroids.”

LG Energy Solution inks deal with Australian mining company for nickel and cobalt

South Korea’s LG Energy Solution has entered into a six-year agreement with an Australian mining company for cobalt and nickel, securing a stable supply of key minerals to make electric vehicle batteries.

LG Energy, a subsidiary of LG Chem, will purchase 71,000 dry metric tons of nickel and 7,000 dry metric tons of cobalt from Australian Mines Limited starting from the end of 2024. That’s enough raw material to make batteries for 1.3 million EVs with a driving range of over 310 miles per charge.

“Securing key raw materials and a responsible battery supply chain has become a critical element in gaining a greater control within the industry, as the demand for electric vehicles worldwide heightened in recent years,” LG Energy Solution CEO Jong-hyun Kim said in a statement.

The materials will be sourced from Australian Mines’ $1.5 billion Sconi Project based in Queensland, which is currently under development. The site will use a “dry stacking method” to store filtered tailings, an alternative and more eco-friendly way to manage waste from a mining site. Instead of dumping tailings into local water sources or burying them in underground quarries, dry stacking removes the water from the waste, leaving a sand-like substance that can be securely stored in management facilities.

“Although more costly compared to the conventional method due to construction and maintenance expenses, the dry stacking method is deemed an environmentally friendly way to extract raw materials,” LG Energy said in a statement.

The sole condition to the agreement is that Australian Mines secure financing for the construction of the project before the end of June next year. If secured, the agreement would account for all of the anticipated output of the site.

The two companies have the option to extend the agreement by another five years by mutual agreement.

LG Energy is a subsidiary of LG Chem, one of the world’s largest producers of batteries and battery materials. Last month, the company said it had earmarked ₩6 trillion ($5.2 billion) in its battery businesses, specifically the production of anode materials, separation membranes and cathode binders. Earlier this summer, it also entered into an agreement with Queensland Pacific Metals valued at ₩12 billion ($10.3 million), for 7,000 tons of nickel and 700 tons of cobalt per year over a 10-year period.

LG Chem counts Volkswagen, General Motors and Tesla amongst its customers. It said it anticipates the global battery market only expanding in the coming years, from ₩39 trillion ($34 billion) in 2021 to ₩100 trillion ($87 billion) by 2026.

It isn’t the only major player vying to secure sources of raw materials. In a move to obtain its own battery source, Tesla inked a deal with commodity production giant BHP in July for nickel from its mines in Western Australian.

OEMs are also partnering with battery makers to develop batteries — LG Chem included, as is the case with the joint venture between the conglomerate and General Motors, Ultium Cells.

Hyundai IONIQ 5 will be Motional and Lyft’s first robotaxi

Motional will integrate its driverless technology into Hyundai’s new all-electric SUV to create the company’s first robotaxi. At the start of 2023, customers in certain markets will be able to book the fully electric, fully autonomous taxi through the Lyft app.

The Hyundai IONIQ 5, which was revealed in February with a consumer release date expected later this year, will be fully integrated with Motional’s driverless system. The vehicles will be equipped with the hardware and software needed for Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities, including LiDAR, radar and cameras to provide the vehicle’s sensing system with 360 degrees of vision, and the ability to see up to 300 meters away. This level of driverless technology means a human will not be required to take over driving.

The interior living space will be similar to the consumer model, but additionally equipped with features needed for robotaxi operation, according to a Motional spokesperson. Motional did not reveal whether or not the vehicle would still have a steering wheel, and images of the robotaxi aren’t yet available.

Motional’s IONIQ 5 robotaxis have already begun testing on public roads and closed courses, and they’ll be put through more months of testing and real-world experience before being deployed on Lyft’s platform. The company says it’ll complete testing only once it’s confident that the taxis are safer than a human driver.

Motional, the Aptiv-Hyundai $4 billion joint venture aimed at commercializing driverless cars, announced its partnership with Lyft in December, signaling the ride-hailing company’s primary involvement in Motional’s plans. The company recently announced that it began testing its driverless tech on public roads in Las Vegas. Hyundai’s IONIQ 5 is Motional’s second platform to go driverless on public roads.