Self-driving Car Competition
A large global alliance including Hyundai Motor, will be launched for autonomous vehicle research within this month.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on December 19, the global alliance, which consists of 27 automobiles, information technology (IT) and insurance companies, will launch pilot tests this month in the United States. In addition, the alliance will discuss autonomous driving safety standards and driving regulations.
A total of 12 automobile companies are participating in autonomous navigation joint research including Hyundai, Toyota, BMW, Nissan, GM, Volkswagen and Volvo. Among IT companies, Ericsson in Sweden and Qualcomm in the United States are good examples. Uber, a vehicle-sharing service company, and UPS, a US logistics company, are also noticeable. Sweden and Singapore participate at the government level.
The global alliance has led discussions as the World Economic Forum launched its working-level team in May last year. Nikkei predicted that standards or regulations from the global alliance could become world standards.
However, Nikkei added that the alliance was devoid of Tesla, a leading US electric car maker, and Ford and Google formed their own alliance to develop autonomous driving technology in April.
In addition to this alliance, many automakers and IT companies have actively pursued cooperation in developing autonomous vehicles in order to speed up commercialization.
Hyundai is working with Google, Cisco, and Uber to develop autonomous vehicles. Recently, the Korean automaker is discussing cooperation with Here, a precision map service company.
Vehicle-sharing company Uber is partnering with Volvo. Volvo recently signed a partnership agreement with Uber to develop unmanned cars and decided to hire about 400 engineers to develop an autonomous electric vehicle system. Volvo which became "synonymous with safety" decided to establish a joint venture company to develop autonomous vehicles based on the concept of safety with Autoliv, the market share leader in the airbag market.
BMW also banded together with Intel, Baidu and Mobileye to commercialize autonomous vehicles in 2021, and FCA is working with Google to develop its autonomous vehicle technology. GM is jointly developing a vehicle sharing system centered on autonomous vehicles with Lyft. Ford also plans to invest in four start-up companies and promote partnership with them, spurring the development of autonomous vehicles by more than doubling the number of Silicon Valley researchers and facilities.
By region, Korea-Japan-the European Union, the United States and China are expected to form a three-runner race. Korea, Japan and major European countries will join hands to set common standards for autonomous vehicles. The United States plans to set up guidelines on the sale and safety of autonomous vehicles. The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and police recently decided to make autonomous driving guidelines for self-driving cars.
"With an era of autonomous vehicles ahead, both companies and countries are focusing on taking the lead in commercial vehicles and standards," an industry representative said. "They are checking each other while forming strategic partnership."