Hyundai Motor Group officially opened its Singapore global innovation centre with an event attended by chairman Euisun Chung, Singapore’s deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong and South Korean trade minister Ahn Duk-geun.

The automaker said Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS) would focus on research and development (R&D) of new human centred mobility technology.

The company began construction of the centre, in the Jurong district, in 2020 but completion was delayed due to the Covid pandemic. The aim of the centre was to develop and test advanced vehicle and manufacturing technology which will be adopted later across the group’s global operations.

The seven storey building, with total floor space of 90,000 sq m, includes a high tech assembly facility with capacity for 30,000 electric vehicles annually, R&D facilities, customer experience research centres, offices and a rooftop test track.

The centre is currently developing autonomous taxis based on the Ioniq 5 battery electric vehicle (BEV) under the company’s Motional joint venture with US mobility startup Aptiv.

The Level 4 autonomous taxis, which have been certified by US Society of Automotive Engineers, will be produced commercially from next year and deployed as part of Motional's commercial services in the US.

Chung Euisun said: “HMGICS is an open and connected urban innovation hub that encourages and embraces creativity and collaboration. It seeks to completely redefine the very concept of manufacturing. We will build innovative mobility solutions with HMGICS that can have positive impacts on human evolution."

CEO Hong Bum Jung said: “HMGICS is Hyundai Motor Group’s first global innovation hub and global test bed for future mobility. Our mission is to revolutionise the mobility value chain by developing and producing advanced and diverse forms of future mobility solutions."