Hyundai Motor Co and its affiliate Kia signed an agreement with Chinese tech giant Baidu to develop technologies for connected cars, including autonomous software, artificial intelligence (AI), and more.
Based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Hyundai and Baidu, the two automakers seek to develop technologies for connected cars together. The collaboration will work on developing connectivity, self-driving software, and smart cloud computing technology. The pair will also search for new business models to harness artificial intelligence technologies.
“Through the strategic collaboration with Baidu, we will make efforts to establish the ecosystem for connected cars in the Chinese market,” said Hyundai.
The partnership’s focus hints that the development of autonomy and artificial intelligence is becoming more essential for car manufacturers. Tesla’s recent earnings call also revealed the company’s concentration on autonomous software and AI development. In fact, Elon Musk noted that Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood has been correct in describing Tesla as an AI company.
During the Q1 2024 earnings call, Adam Jonas from Morgan Stanley asked how long it would take Chinese automakers to copy Tesla’s cheaper models—putting aside the Robotaxi and other features unique to Tesla.
“I mean, I don’t know what our competitors can do, except we’ve done relatively better than they have because if you look at the drop in our competitors in China sales versus our drop in sales, our drop was less than theirs. So, we’re doing well,” Musk replied.
“But I think Cathie Wood said it best. Like really, we should be thought of as an AI or robotics company. If you value Tesla as just like an auto company, you just have to — fundamentally, it’s just the wrong framework, and if you ask the wrong question, then the right answer is impossible. So, I mean, if somebody doesn’t believe Tesla is going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company…,” he added.
Tesla has been making significant strides in Full Self-Driving (FSD) recently. In particular, the launch of FSD (supervised) has been received well by Tesla drivers.