US Aptiv to Reduce Investment in Autonomous Driving JV Motional...Focus on Hyundai Motor's Decision

U.S. autonomous driving technology company Aptiv announced on the 31st of last month (local time) that it will not participate in the capital increase of Motional, a joint venture with Hyundai Motor Group. Attention is focused on whether Hyundai Motor Group's role will increase further.

According to major foreign media reports on the 1st, Kevin Clark, CEO of Aptiv, stated while announcing the Q4 results last year, "Although Motional continues to make progress, we (Aptiv) have decided not to invest further in Motional and are looking for alternatives to reduce our stake."

Motional robotaxi built on Hyundai Ioniq 5 platform
[Photo by Motional]

Accordingly, Aptiv decided not to participate in Motional's capital increase scheduled for next month. This is interpreted as due to increased costs in the process of developing autonomous driving technology. CEO Clark explained, "The cost of providing technology is challenging in the on-demand mobility market."

They are developing an unmanned autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service, which is expected to require significant costs and considerable time before generating profits. However, CEO Clark reportedly stated that Aptiv will maintain its current role within Motional and continue to support the company's development.

Previously, automakers such as General Motors (GM), Ford, and Volkswagen have scaled back or completely halted their autonomous driving businesses, which are considered core technologies for future mobility. GM announced on the 30th of last month that it would reduce spending on its robo-taxi subsidiary Cruise by about $1 billion (approximately 1.33 trillion KRW) this year.

Ford and Volkswagen also withdrew investments in Argo AI, an autonomous driving startup they jointly established, citing difficulties in technology development. Motional, an autonomous driving joint venture established in 2020 by Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv, launched an unmanned robo-taxi service based on the Ioniq 5 in Las Vegas, USA, last year together with Uber and Lyft.

The three Hyundai Motor Group companies involved in establishing Motional (Hyundai Motor Company, Kia, and Hyundai Mobis) are reportedly reviewing whether to participate in the capital increase. Motional is said to be placing little emphasis on Aptiv's decision and plans to steadily continue developing autonomous driving technology.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.