Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
Hyundai's self-driving chief highlights execution over development
Park Min-woo, head of Hyundai Motor Group's Advanced Vehicle Platform Division and CEO of 42dot / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group
By Lee Min-hyung
The future of competition in artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous driving and software-defined vehicles (SDVs) will be determined not by who develops technologies first, but by who can bring them to market fastest, safest and at scale, said Park Min-woo, head of Hyundai Motor Group’s Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP) Division.
Park characterized the industry’s competitive paradigm with a single word: execution.
“The future will not be decided by who invents a technology first, but by who can deliver reliable, scalable products that people can trust and use safely,” Park said in an intra-company interview.
“Research alone is not enough. The real challenge is elevating technology to a level where customers have confidence in it.”
A key objective for the carmaker’s software initiative lies in internalizing capabilities in core autonomous driving software, while accelerating commercialization through what he calls an “execution-first” approach.
Park, who also serves as CEO of 42dot, the group’s self-driving software development unit, stressed that data utilization will become one of the most important competitive advantages in the mobility sector.
He said success will depend on how quickly companies can acquire data, train and refine AI models, and translate those improvements into real-world product performance.
According to Park, the group plans to continuously improve its end-to-end autonomous driving models using large-scale driving data accumulated through partnerships. The ultimate goal is to secure safety and reliability through technologies developed internally, he said.
Hyundai Motor Group is advancing sensor standardization and building a “data union” framework linking Hyundai Motor, Kia, 42dot and Motional. The system is intended to create a data flywheel in which data collection and mass production reinforce one another and accelerate technological progress.
The executive also identified robotics as a critical pillar of Hyundai’s future strategy, bridging autonomous driving and physical AI.
“Technology should not exist simply to prove that something is possible,” he said. “It must ultimately scale into commercial products and mass production to deliver meaningful benefits to people.”
Addressing organizational changes, Park acknowledged that friction between hardware and software teams, as well as between research and manufacturing functions, is inevitable during transformation periods.
“The important thing is to turn conflict into positive friction that helps us build better products,” he said. “If failures occur, leadership should bear the responsibility.”