Socar and Apex Mobility have teamed up with Hyundai Motor Company to validate autonomous driving systems and develop a dedicated vehicle platform. The partnership aims to leverage real-world driving data from Socar's fleet and Apex Mobility's data processing technology to advance autonomous driving technology and commercialize ride-hailing services.
On November 13, Socar and Apex Mobility announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hyundai for a strategic partnership focused on the "autonomous ride-hailing vehicle platform and autonomous driving data collection."
The three companies plan to collaborate on several initiatives, including Hyundai's autonomous vehicle (AV) foundry business, collecting and providing autonomous driving data from domestic road environments, developing a dedicated ride-hailing vehicle platform based on autonomous driving, and sharing operational expertise and assets.
Under the collaboration structure, Hyundai will provide autonomous vehicles and systems, while Socar and Apex Mobility will supply real-world driving data and operational capabilities. Hyundai will also supply a device called a "DevKit" for system validation and trial operations, along with the dedicated ride-hailing vehicle platform.
Data collection is set to begin in early 2027. Socar and Apex Mobility will gather domestic road driving data using vehicles equipped with sensor kits and share operational know-how. Based on this data, Hyundai plans to develop a ride-hailing vehicle platform that enhances operational efficiency and convenience.
Socar and Apex Mobility will also collaborate in applying Hyundai's autonomous driving software to car-sharing vehicles for validation. They have agreed to discuss integrating the validated vehicles and technology into their services once commercialized.
This collaboration is built on Socar's extensive vehicle operation network and driving data. Socar operates approximately 25,000 vehicles nationwide, accumulating around 1.1 million kilometers of driving distance daily, which is equivalent to ten times the total length of the country's roads, approximately 110,000 kilometers. This extensive data collection is expected to be instrumental in validating autonomous driving technology.
Apex Mobility will process the anonymized raw data collected by Socar to facilitate autonomous driving AI training. They possess a data pipeline that synchronizes time information and utilizes visual language model (VLM)-based automatic labeling to prepare the data for training.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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