By Park Jin-hai
Hyundai Motor gained testing licenses for its autonomous driving vehicles, clearing the way for the nation’s largest carmaker to test its self-driving technologies on the highways of the United States, the company said Monday.
It said the carmaker obtained licenses on Dec. 11 for a total of four autonomous vehicles ― two Tucson hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and two Soul electric cars ― to test-drive on the highways of Nevada.
It is the first times for a local carmaker to obtain such licenses in the U.S.
“In particular, the two Tucson cars will be the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell cars mounting autonomous driving technologies,” said Hyundai Motor. “It is the outcome of Hyundai’s ceaseless effort to secure green future technologies.”
The company said the standards for autonomous car licenses in the state of Nevada are higher than for the rest of the U.S., requiring a technology presentation and demonstration.
With the license, Hyundai became the second passenger carmaker to receive a driving endorsement from Nevada, following Audi.
A total of five companies including Hyundai and Google have been given licenses from the Silver State.
Four other states issue licenses for autonomous cars. In California, where the requirements for test-drive licenses are relatively low, a total of nine companies including Nissan, Honda and Tesla have been test-driving their self-driving cars on the roads.
Those vehicles permitted this time mount the latest technologies including traffic jam assist, highway driving assist and narrow passage assist. Converged with information coming from various sensors, they can change lanes automatically, a technological advancement from the carmaker demonstrated during the March Seoul Motor Show.
Hyundai aims to develop highly advanced autonomous cars by 2020 and fully autonomous ones by 2030.
Following the highway test, the company will expand its test drives into urban streets with traffic lights, crosswalks and passengers sometime next year.
“Taking this opportunity, we will continue to invest in research for autonomous cars, giving a boost to their mass production,” said the company.
Hyundai’s autonomous Soul electric vehicle, which obtained a license this time, will be unveiled during the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.