Why Hyundai Motor is Not Rushing Autonomous Driving

[The Fact | Seongnam = Reporter Park Seong-ho] "Everyone in the organization said we could commercialize Atria AI a bit faster, but I argued that we couldn't. This is because we must create a 'North Star' (the ultimate goal), not just an awkward Level 2++ autonomous vehicle."
Park Min-woo, Head of AVP Division (President) at Hyundai Motor/Kia and CEO of 42dot, gave this response to reporters' questions during the '2026 Hyundai Motor Group Autonomous Driving Media Day'.
He explained his reason for being cautious about the early commercialization of 'Atria AI', their proprietary technology, stating that during his time at his former employers, Tesla and NVIDIA, he experienced burnout and failure while pushing too hard to achieve immediate goals. Hyundai Motor Group intends to follow its roadmap to introduce Level 2++ Atria AI by 2029.
On the 11th, Hyundai Motor Group held the 'Hyundai Motor Group Autonomous Driving Media Day' at the 42dot headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi-do, and announced its autonomous driving technology development strategy, roadmap, major development achievements, and future implementation plans.
On this day, Hyundai Motor Group released the first video of an SDV testbed vehicle equipped with its proprietary autonomous driving model, Atria AI, driving through a complex urban area in real life without driver intervention. The autonomous driving technology applied to the vehicle in the video is at the Level 2++ level.
In the video, the test vehicle demonstrated safe autonomous driving, such as stopping when a vehicle in the adjacent lane suddenly cut in and slightly increasing the gap when a large truck or bus approached. This led to evaluations at the scene that Atria AI might effectively be ready for commercialization.
However, President Park Min-woo reaffirmed that there are no changes to the existing roadmap: △Applying NVIDIA solution-based Level 2+ functions to mass-produced vehicles in the first half of 2028 △Launching mass-produced vehicles with Level 2++ in the second half of 2028 △Mass-producing Level 2++ vehicles based on the proprietary 'Atria AI' technology in the second half of 2029. He emphasized that they would steadily conduct R&D for up to three years to present a safe and reliable autonomous vehicle.
He stated, "The initial design is the most important part of autonomous driving technology," adding, "The earliest possible SDV (Software Defined Vehicle) will be in 2028. We plan to begin applying autonomous driving technology from that point."
He continued, "In 2028, we will first apply the autonomous driving technology that NVIDIA has already developed well. However, we cannot leave everything entirely to NVIDIA. We will utilize the technology gathered from NVIDIA to operate our own autonomous driving model alongside it starting from 2029."
To commercialize Atria AI in 2029, Hyundai Motor Group has transitioned Atria AI from the existing 'rule-based modular' method to the E2E (End-to-End) method.
Rule-based modular was the most widely researched and developed method before the emergence of E2E; it is a clear structure that processes perception, decision-making, and control step-by-step according to rules. However, with the advent of AI making it possible to learn from driving data, E2E, where situational perception and control happen immediately, has emerged as the mainstream.
Along with this, Atria AI is concurrently developing the next-generation technology, VLA (Vision-Language-Action). VLA is a language-based reasoning model. If an autonomous vehicle suddenly changes lanes, E2E cannot analyze the cause, but VLA can identify the reasoning process leading up to the lane change.
On this day, Hyundai Motor Group hinted at plans to launch E2E-based Atria AI and VLA-based Atria AI technologies in parallel. Since VLA requires complex reasoning, it needs higher-performance GPUs than E2E models. Accordingly, it is expected that E2E-based technology will be installed in mid-to-low-end autonomous driving models, while VLA technology will be installed in the Genesis brand and flagship models.
President Park Min-woo said, "When 'Pleos 27' is held in the first half of next year, we will be able to show in great detail what we are preparing, as well as how overall SDV R&D, not just autonomous driving, is progressing. Along with this, we will also reveal what we are researching and developing in connection with the Robotics Lab."