2007 Hyundai Sonata on 2040-cars

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Hyundai and Aptiv enter self-driving joint venture

Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv are creating a 50:50 autonomous driving joint venture valued at $4 billion. In an announcement, Hyundai said the venture plans to begin testing fully driverless vehicle systems in 2020 and to "have a production-ready autonomous driving platform available for robotaxi providers, fleet operators, and automotive manufacturers in 2022." Under the terms of the agreement, Hyundai Motor Group affiliates Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Hyundai Mobis — which debuted the self-driving concept vehicle seen above earlier this year at CES — will collectively contribute $1.6 billion in cash and $0.4 billion in vehicle engineering services, R&D resources and access to intellectual property. Aptiv, which was formerly known as Delphi Automotive, will contribute its autonomous driving technology, intellectual property, and approximately 700 employees focused on the development of scalable autonomous driving solutions. According to a statement on the joint venture, Aptiv says it currently operates more than 100 self-driving vehicles, a number of which are part of a commercial deployment in Las Vegas. The company says it has provided more than 70,000 paid autonomous rides and has maintained a rating of 4.95-out-of-five stars. The company will be headquartered in Boston and have so-called technology centers located across the United States and Asia. Green Hyundai Kia Transportation Alternatives Technology Autonomous Vehicles aptiv

Hyundai reveals new i20 hatchback ahead of Paris debut

If you had ever traveled overseas and rented a Hyundai Getz, you'll likely have gotten why it was the butt of jokes: it Getz you from A to B, but not much more. But like the company that makes it, the Korean supermini is all grown up now, long since eschewing the punchline nameplate for the i20 moniker. And here is its latest successor.
Set to be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show this fall, the new i20 is Hyundai's rival to the likes of the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Toyota Yaris and such. Designed in Europe for the European market, the new i20 stretches its wheelbase nearly two inches longer than its predecessor (and four and a half inches longer than the knees-in-your-chest Getz) to offer best-in-class legroom and cargo capacity.
Hyundai also says the new i20 is the first in its segment to offer an opening panoramic sunroof. While we wouldn't exactly call the styling "exciting" (especially in that shade of brown), penned at the company's European design center in Rüsselsheim, Germany, it certainly does look more mature... which, we take it, is kinda the point.

Automakers drop support for Trump effort against California emissions

WASHINGTON — Toyota, Fiat Chrysler (now known as Stellantis following its merger with Peugeot) and other major automakers said on Tuesday they were joining General Motors in abandoning support for former President Donald Trump's effort to bar California from setting its own zero emission vehicle rules. The automakers, which also included Hyundai, Kia, Mitsubishi, Mazda and Subaru, said in a joint statement they were withdrawing from an ongoing legal challenge to California's emission-setting powers, "in a gesture of good faith and to find a constructive path forward" with President Joe Biden. The automakers, along with the National Automobile Dealers Association, said they were aligned "with the Biden administrationÂ’s goals to achieve year-over-year improvements in fuel economy standards." Nissan in December withdrew from the challenge after GM's decision in November shocked the industry and won praise from Biden. On Monday, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia to put the California emissions litigation on hold to "ensure due respect for the prerogative of the executive branch to reconsider the policy decisions of a prior administration." Biden has directed agencies to quickly reconsider TrumpÂ’s 2019 decision to revoke CaliforniaÂ’s authority to set its own auto tailpipe emissions standards and require rising numbers of zero-emission vehicles, as well as Trump's national fuel economy rollback. Asked to respond to the automakers' action, White House climate adviser Gina McCarthy said in a statement that "after four years of putting us in reverse, it is time to restart and build a sustainable future, grow domestic manufacturing, and deliver clean cars for America." California Governor Gavin Newsom praised the automakers on Twitter for "dropping your climate-denying, air-polluting, Trump-era lawsuit against CA" and urged them to join the voluntary framework. TALKS WITH BIDEN Separately, an industry trade group on Tuesday proposed to start talks with Biden on revised fuel economy standards that would be higher than Trump-era standards but lower than ones set during the prior Democratic administration. The Trump administration in March finalized a rollback of U.S. Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards to require 1.5% annual increases in efficiency through 2026, well below the 5% yearly boosts under the Obama administration rules it discarded.