Hyundai Motor Group said Tuesday it will mount Nvidia’s computer chips on all Hyundai Motor, Kia Motors and Genesis models starting from 2022 to help those vehicles process large amounts of real-time data.

According to the world’s fifth-largest automotive group, Nvidia Drive chips will be installed in all vehicles to provide improved computing power required for running the connected car operating system, or ccOS, developed by Hyundai Motor.

Hyundai’s ccOS allows vehicles to exchange and process real-time data via mobile communication network, offering drivers up-to-date traffic information and news as well as music and video streaming services.

With the help of 5G network, the ccOS technology is expected to see an exponential growth in the era of self-driving cars, as the technology allows vehicles to process huge chunks of data generated from the inside and outside, according to industry sources.

“The Nvidia Drive platform is proven -- it is scalable, energy-efficient and has the performance to support our next generation of software-defined vehicles,” said Paul Choo, senior vice president of electronics tech unit at Hyundai Motor Group.


Based on Nvidia Drive chips, Hyundai’s ccOS will be capable of high-performance computing that can support deep learning; seamless computing that connects vehicles with the surrounding infrastructure and smart devices; intelligent computing that offers customized services by identifying the driver’s intentions and condition; secure computing that monitors in-vehicle and external networks and protects the vehicles’ network integrity.

Hyundai Motor Group has been working with Nvidia since 2015, and the Nvidia Drive chips have already been deployed to Genesis GV80 and G80 models released this year. Both have also been collaborating to launch an advanced integrated digital cockpit next year, which can turn information regarding drivers’ safety and convenience into 3D animations for a vivid driving experience.

Hyundai Motor declined to disclose the price of the Nvidia Drive chips and how many times the computing power will be enhanced by using those chips.

In 2015, Nvidia introduced the Nvidia Drive platform for self-driving cars and has since maintained top-notch technology in chips for cars. In September, Nvidia agreed to acquire British chip designer Arm for $40 billion.

Hyundai will offer lifetime updates for the ccOS.

Hyundai Motor’s collaboration with Nvidia comes amid growing rumors that the carmaker is in talks with Softbank to acquire robot maker Boston Dynamics, according to foreign media reports.

While the acquisition is expected to cost Hyundai as much as $1 billion, the investment will boost the automaker’s efforts to combine self-driving technologies with robotics technologies, industry watchers say.

This year, Hyundai Motor and US self-driving company Aptive together invested $4 billion to create autonomous driving joint venture Motional. In September, the company also formed New Horizons Studio, a new mobility unit that is currently developing Elevate, a walking car that can traverse any terrain with a set of extendable legs attached to the wheels.

In May last year, Hyundai Motor Group secured a 2.62 percent stake in Boston-based robot startup Realtime Robotics through a 1.7 billion-won ($1.52 million) equity investment. Robot processors developed by Realtime Robotics have received investments from global automakers and are expected to be applied to self-driving vehicles.

Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Euisun said in October last year that robots will take up 20 percent of the company’s business in the future.

For Boston Dynamics, which aims to introduce Handle -- a mobile robot for moving boxes in fulfillment centers -- Hyundai Motor is evaluated as a more suitable partner than Softbank, which is currently developing humanoid robot Pepper.

Hyundai said it is “continuously exploring various investment and partnership opportunities.”

By Kim Byung-wook (kbw@heraldcorp.com)