Waymo’s autonomous driving technology will soon be available in Hyundai cars. Waymo, a developer of autonomous driving technology, announced this week that it will partner with Korean automaker Hyundai to equip its fleet of electric vehicles with self-driving technology. The vehicles, modified Ioniq 5, will hit the road as part of Waymo’s self-driving passenger transportation service in overdue 2025, the companies said.
In a statement, Hyundai Motor Company president and global chief operating officer José Muñoz called the agreement a “first step” in the two companies’ partnership. “We are actively exploring additional collaboration opportunities,” he said, opening the possibility that Waymo’s self-driving technology could one day be installed in Hyundai passenger cars.
But this international partnership is the latest to raise questions about how Waymo, arguably the world’s most successful autonomous vehicle company, will cope with the global revamp of the auto industry.
China’s recent dominance in car production and exports has alarmed other global automakers, some of whom have argued that the country has an unfair trade advantage. Over the past year, Western countries have built stronger trade walls to prevent the intrusion of inexpensive Chinese electric and autonomous vehicles. Last month, the United States finalized regulations that dramatically increased tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and battery materials.
The U.S. Department of Commerce also last month proposed a rule that would ban U.S. imports of some automotive hardware and software made in China and Russia, with a particular focus on technology that enables autonomy. Just this week, the European Union voted to raise tariffs on electric vehicles made in China.
Interestingly, Waymo insists that its partnership with Chinese automaker Zeekr is still ongoing. As part of the deal announced in overdue 2021, Zeekr built specially roomy, autonomous minivans for the Alphabet subsidiary that are also cheaper to produce. The Zeekr vehicle officially debuted in June in San Francisco, although Waymo says it is still in the testing phase and is not yet part of the public transit fleet.
Zeekr is owned by Chinese carmaker Geely, although its design center and one of its research and development centers are located in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Swedish city is also home to majority automakers Volvo and Polestar, a premium all-electric carmaker.
On Friday, Waymo spokesman Chris Bonelli wrote that the Hyundai Ioniq 5s “will not replace any of our other vehicle platforms” and said the company is “working hard to validate” the latest version of Waymo’s technology on the Zeekr platform.
In proposing recent regulations on automotive software and hardware produced in China, the U.S. government argued that such technologies installed in American vehicles could pose a long-term threat to national security. “Imagine that there were thousands or hundreds of thousands of vehicles on U.S. roads connected to China’s grid that could be turned off immediately and simultaneously by someone in Beijing,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said earlier this year.
Push in public comments filed in April with the Commerce Department, Waymo representatives insisted that despite its partnership with the Chinese automaker, China had nothing to do with the vital technology of Zeekr’s robotaxi. “AV-ready entry-level vehicles shipped to Waymo do not have built-in driving automation or telematics features,” the company wrote, stating that only U.S.-based Waymo personnel install autonomous technology in vehicles at the U.S. plant. The company stated that once the vehicles are launched in the US, it will not be possible to remotely communicate with their manufacturer, Zeekr.