Hyundai Motor Group has hired Min-woo Park, 48, a former Nvidia executive, as the overall head of Autonomous Driving technology development. The move is seen as an attempt to catch up with front-runners such as Tesla by strengthening cooperation with Nvidia, the world's largest artificial intelligence (AI) chipmaker. Still, in the auto industry, some say that for Hyundai Motor Group to raise its technology level through a leadership change, it first needs to efficiently consolidate the capabilities of its dispersed Autonomous Driving development organizations.
Hyundai Motor Group said on the 13th that it appointed Park as the new head (president) of the AVP division and CEO of 42dot. The AVP division is responsible for developing in-vehicle software and future car platforms, while 42dot handles development of software-defined vehicles (SDV). Former President Chang-hyun Song, who had led the organization since 2021, stepped down in early December last year after more than four years without significant results.
Born in 1977, Park was tapped as the youngest president within Hyundai Motor Group. After graduating from Korea University with a degree in electrical, electronic and radio engineering, Park earned a master's in electrical and electronic engineering and a doctorate in computer engineering from Pennsylvania State University in the United States. Park joined Tesla in 2015 and worked there for a little over two years, then led Autonomous Driving technology development at Nvidia for about 10 years from June 2017 to January this year.
After Tesla commercialized its near-perfect Autonomous Driving technology, Full Self-Driving (FSD), last year, Hyundai Motor Group has been on high alert. To build Autonomous Driving technology on par with FSD as quickly as possible, it has recently sought strategic collaboration with Nvidia. At "CES 2026" in Las Vegas early this year, Nvidia unveiled its self-developed Autonomous Driving platform "Alphamayo."
Park took part in developing Autopilot at Tesla. At Nvidia, Park is credited with successfully leading Autonomous Driving software development and mass production, as well as the application of Autonomous Driving platforms. For Hyundai Motor Group, which must join hands with Nvidia and focus on chasing Tesla, Park is an ideal hire.
In fact, the auto industry expects cooperation between Hyundai Motor Group and Nvidia to strengthen with Park as the link. Hyundai Motor Group has agreed to receive 50,000 units of Nvidia's latest Blackwell chips to build large-scale AI infrastructure in Korea. Nvidia will also provide Autonomous Driving platforms, among other things. Many expect that simply joining this ecosystem will allow Hyundai Motor Group to secure technology above a certain level.
Lee Jae-il, a research fellow at Eugene Investment & Securities, said, "In Autonomous Driving technology at level 2 (partial automation) and above, the company with overwhelming competitiveness is Tesla, and it is being chased by new Chinese brands, whose common trait is that they have joined Nvidia's Autonomous Driving ecosystem," adding, "Hyundai Motor Group joined late, but it can minimize trial and error and join the level 2-and-above leading group in a shorter period at lower cost." In fact, Chinese companies such as BYD, Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Huawei, which use Nvidia's Orin chips, have succeeded with Nvidia in a short time in implementing Autonomous Driving technology at levels similar to Tesla.
Industry officials in the finished car sector believe the most important thing for Park to demonstrate capability is to quickly streamline or integrate the group's Autonomous Driving technology organizations, which are spread across several units.
In addition to the AVP division and 42dot, Hyundai Motor Group also has Motional, a U.S.-based subsidiary, conducting research on Autonomous Driving technology. Motional is especially focused on developing and commercializing unmanned robotaxis, but its performance trails competitors. While robotaxi services such as Alphabet's Autonomous Driving service "Waymo" are already commercialized, Motional postponed its commercialization timeline, originally targeted for 2024, by two years to this year. Beyond Motional, the R&D division also shares roles such as Autonomous Driving and SDV development.
The dispersion of organizations responsible for Autonomous Driving development has been cited as a reason Hyundai Motor Group has failed to produce proper results compared with Tesla despite heavy investment. In particular, because Motional and the R&D division each have separate heads, it is not yet clear how far President Min-woo Park's leadership will reach. Motional has been led by CEO Laura Major since June last year, and President Manfred Harrer was appointed head of R&D late last year.
Hyundai Motor Group is using a strategy in which several affiliates share responsibility for future growth drivers. Robotics is a representative example. Boston Dynamics, a U.S. subsidiary, handles design and technology development; Hyundai Motor and Kia handle application on manufacturing sites and technology verification. Hyundai Mobis supplies key parts such as actuators, and Hyundai AutoEver handles system integration and robot control.
In robotics, each affiliate's role is clearly divided, and the structure combines them into a final product. In contrast, in Autonomous Driving development, roles across organizations remain unclear, and they are competing to produce visible results first, making it hard to concentrate capabilities and causing confusion about direction, industry observers note.
After taking office, Park is expected to review the performance and problems of each organization, including the AVP division and 42dot. A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "There are no plans yet to reorganize or integrate Autonomous Driving-related organizations," adding, "If Park decides on a plan to most efficiently accelerate technology development, organizational restructuring could take place after review by the group's management."