Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Hyundai Mobis, the parts-making wing of South Korea's Hyundai auto group, will invest $25 million in Envisics, a British dynamic holography pioneer and auto head-up display developer. The two companies aim to jointly develop an augmented reality head-up display optimized for autonomous driving for mass-production in 2025.

As a crucial partner in the development of Hyundai Motor's self-driving technology, Hyundai Mobis has accelerated the development of sensors, cameras and other parts for autonomous vehicles and infotainment for autonomous vehicles.

Through its investment in Envisics, Hyundai Motor would preemptively introduce next-generation AR head-up display (HUD) technology that increases safety and convenience without distracting drivers. Envisics has solved the problem of speed delay and quality degradation, which are disadvantages of digital hologram technology, through deep learning-based algorithms.

AR HUD is a next-generation safety convenience device that matches vehicle driving information with the road ahead in real time and projects it to the windshield. It can be implemented in geometrical and holographic ways. Digital holograms provide a wide viewing angle with software alone, even without a separate optical unit. It can dramatically reduce the volume.

"AR HUD technology is an essential high-tech auxiliary device for safe driving, and it is expected to draw keen attention from global premium markets as it can create synergy with autonomous driving technologies," Hyundai Mobis seniro vice president Cho Sung-hwan said, vowing to make continuous investment in companies with diverse source technologies.

With its investment in Envisics, Hyundai Mobis would accelerate research and development in self-driving, vehicle infotainment and connectivity. The company runs a technical center in India for the development of autonomous driving software. The research will focus on developing recognition algorithms for self-driving, control logics for parking and sensors.

In 2019, Hyundai Motor partnered with Aptiv, a technology company with advanced mobility solutions, to form a joint venture that would advance the design, development and commercialization of level 4 and 5 autonomous technologies. Level 4 autonomous vehicles require no input from drivers if there is no dangerous situation and level 5 vehicles do not require human attention.