Toyota and Hyundai have announced a deepened partnership to advance future mobility technologies, focusing on hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle and humanoid robot development.
The two auto giants agreed to deepen their ties during a meeting in South Korea between Toyota Motor chairman Akio Toyoda and Hyundai Motor Group executive chair Chung Euisun, reported The Korea Economic Daily.
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Following the show runs of Toyota Motor’s Yaris WRC at the first ‘Hyundai N x TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Festival’ held at Yongin Speedway in South Korea, Toyoda said: “Together, Toyota and Hyundai are joining hands to create a better society and shape the future of mobility.”
Joining Toyoda in the racing performance, Chung said: “We’ll continue to push forward in motorsport alongside Toyota so that more people can enjoy the thrill of driving.”
Citing sources, KED reported that the collaboration will extend beyond motorsport to focus on the development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and robotics, which involves significant costs.
This partnership between Toyota and Hyundai is expected to bring synergy given that they retained their position as the world’s largest and third-largest car sellers in the first half of this year, respectively.
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By GlobalDataToyota and Hyundai globally shipped 5.16 million units and 3.62 million units, respectively, in H1 2024.
Both companies are leading developers of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles and are key members of the Hydrogen Council, which now includes 140 members.
Toyota Motor launched the world’s first commercial hydrogen fuel cell car, the Mirai sedan, in 2014, followed by Hyundai Motor, which introduced its hydrogen fuel cell model, the NEXO, four years later.
Despite the significant investment needed to develop a hydrogen ecosystem, Toyota and Hyundai remain committed to this initiative, unveiling a range of new concept hydrogen vehicles on 27 October.
Earlier this month, Hyundai’s Boston Dynamics and Toyota Research Institute formed a robotics alliance to fast-track the development of general-purpose humanoid robots.
Both the automakers plan to use these AI-powered robots in their factories to reduce costs and improve quality.
Hyundai Motor intends to deploy Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robots in the coming years. Following this latest robotics partnership, Toyota is also expected to deploy humanoid robots into its car production process.
Tesla and BMW have recently introduced humanoid robots into their production lines.
Hyundai and Toyota are also expected to integrate robotics technologies into future car models.
