By Jhoo Dong-chan



Hyundai Motor is set to cooperate with Israeli-based technology company Mobileye in developing a driverless car.



The country's top automaker said Monday that Vice Chairman Chung Eui-sun visited Israel in May to discuss a partnership for developing a self-driving vehicle with his counterparts at the global No. 1 maker of advanced driver assistance systems modules.



Earlier this year, Intel spent $14.7 billion (17 trillion won) to acquire Mobileye whose leading-edge optical vision technologies helped global leaders to develop autonomous driving systems.



"Since Vice Chairman Chung visited Israel, working groups from both companies met to discuss collaboration," a Hyundai Motor official said. "But we have yet to reach a conclusion as the dialogue has just started."



Experts welcomed the decision, which they said would help Hyundai catch up with established companies.



"Mobileye has a cutting-edge camera module solution for autonomous driving. The two firms' cooperation for autonomous vehicles will create a great synergy effect," Prof. Sunwoo Myung-ho at Hanyang University said.



"Camera module technology alone is not sufficient for self-driving vehicles. But it is one of the significant requirements, and the Israeli company is competitive in that line of work. In fact, Mobileye is one of just a few firms with source technologies in the autonomous car systems industry."



Prof. Sunwoo is a pioneer in the country's autonomous vehicle technology, and his team is leading Korea's efforts to compete in the potential-laden area where global giants are doing all they can to preempt any rivalry from startups.



Prof. Kim Pil-soo of Daelim University concurred.



"Korea has been late in the competition to develop driverless cars. Its gap with first-tier nations such as the United States is estimated to be three years," Kim said. "The joint efforts with Mobileye would create good momentum for Hyundai to chase the top players."



Hyundai Motor officials reportedly visited the head office of Mobileye in Jerusalem last month while the latter is also expected to visit Hyundai Motor headquarters in Seoul later this year.



Mobileye has supplied optical vision chips with motion detection algorithms to Hyundai and Kia's vehicle lineup with its autopilot system while accounting for almost 80 percent in the global market in related areas.



German premium automaker BMW announced in August last year that it will also develop high-performance autonomous driving vehicles along with Mobileye by 2021. Separate from its partnership with BMW, the Israeli tech outfit has also worked with Volkswagen and Nissan.



Not only the nation's carmakers but also multinational info-tech companies have recently announced their plans to develop self-driving cars. Korean high-tech firms are also throwing their hats in the ring.



The world's largest smartphone manufacturer, Samsung Electronics, which recently acquired U.S.-based auto parts supplier Harman, has joined the race as it got the nod from the government to test its driverless vehicles this year.



Leading internet company Naver also surfaced, as its affiliate introduced its latest image sensor technology based on deep learning. It detects surrounding vehicles' movements and calculates ideal driving routes on the roads as shown during this year's Seoul International Motor Show in April.











