Hyundai Motor Group announced that it will pursue two parallel paths in developing advanced driver-assistance systems, rather than rushing to launch its in-house system. In the second half of 2028, the company will begin rolling out a Level 2 system based on Nvidia’s platform, while its in-house Atria AI system will arrive in the second half of 2029, two years later than the date it had previously targeted.
The decision comes as part of an effort by Hyundai to compete with systems such as Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised), but the company says it does not want to launch a system described as a moderately capable “Level 2++.” Park Min-woo, head of the group’s advanced vehicle platforms division, said that accelerating large-scale production could lead to offering a system that falls far short of the true technical target.
Two Phases with Different Technologies
In the first phase, Hyundai and Kia vehicles will use the Nvidia Drive Hyperion 10 architecture to operate a Level 2+ system, which can perform driving tasks between two points while the driver remains responsible for monitoring and intervention. According to the information provided, the system will rely on cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar, without lidar sensors at this stage. Hyundai has not ruled out using lidar in future Level 3 systems.
Nvidia says the Drive Hyperion 10 platform is designed to support a range beginning with supervised Level 2 systems and extending to unsupervised Level 4 systems, but that does not mean Hyundai vehicles in 2028 will automatically receive Level 4 capabilities. The announced rollout for the first phase remains within the scope of driver assistance that requires human supervision.
What Will Atria AI Offer?
Atria AI will be Hyundai’s in-house system in the second phase, and the company describes it as a “Level 2++” system. This expression is not an independent official level in the SAE classification; rather, it is used to describe systems that are more advanced than Level 2 while still requiring a human driver. The system will use an end-to-end approach, in which the artificial intelligence model receives sensor data and converts it into driving commands.
Hyundai showed recordings of an Ioniq 5 equipped with its latest systems navigating complex urban roads in Seoul’s Gangnam district, with a human supervisor present. The company also plans to unify the software and hardware across Hyundai and Kia vehicles, along with the Motional and 42dot divisions specializing in robotaxis and autonomous-driving software development.
Why Does This Delay Matter?
The decision reflects the fact that collecting driving data alone is not enough to accelerate autonomous-driving systems; value also depends on converting the data into continuous training, testing and improvement. Hyundai says it sells approximately 7 million vehicles annually in 190 markets, giving it a broad source of driving data, but it did not provide quantitative details in the material about the effect of this data on Atria AI’s performance or about the system’s safety and regulatory-approval requirements.
In practice, Hyundai will first receive a system based on Nvidia’s platform, while its more ambitious in-house system remains delayed until 2029. This leaves open questions about the actual performance level at launch, the scope of supported markets, and whether reliance solely on cameras and radar will continue in the advanced versions.