On the 14th, Chung Eui-sun, chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, who visited Auto China 2026 (Beijing Motor Show) held in Beijing, China at the end of last month, said, "Everything is moving quickly (compared with Korea), and there are things to learn. It is also important to do things quickly and accurately." It is interpreted as an intention to learn what should be learned from Chinese electric vehicle companies, which are advancing rapidly not only in vehicles but also in technologies such as Autonomous Driving, and to shore up fundamentals to present Hyundai Motor Group's own sophisticated products.
That morning at Hyundai Motor Group's Yangjae headquarters, Chung told reporters asking for his "impressions of the Beijing Motor Show," "I saw a lot and learned a lot. Chinese consumers are very attached to technology and highly interested in it, and the Chinese government is also providing a lot of support," and stated accordingly. On the growth of electric vehicle brands such as Tesla and BYD, he added, "The goal is to learn more and build products that customers will like," and "If there is something to learn from any company in the world, we should learn it, and although we are very tense, I think it is a good opportunity."
Chung again emphasized "safety" over the pace of Autonomous Driving development. He said, "China and Tesla are moving very fast, and Waymo is doing well," and "Technology can make up for what is lacking, but the most important thing is safety." He continued, "So even if we are a bit late, we plan to focus more on safety," and emphasized, "If problems arise in use, from the customer's point of view they may not even want to look at it, so we will pay attention to safety."
Chung cited corporate culture as a strategy for Hyundai Motor Group's transition to an artificial intelligence (AI) Robotics corporations. He said, "It is important to enable hardware engineers and software engineers to work actively and come up with good ideas," and "It is important for the company to help more outstanding talent come in and unfold their own thinking."
Regarding Boston Dynamics' Humanoid Robot Atlas, he said it is "going through trial and error." Emphasizing human convergence, Chung said, "(For robots, Hyundai Motor Group is) quickly going through trial and error in areas we have not done, overcoming errors, and proceeding with (Atlas development) in a direction that swiftly rolls out something better."
He also mentioned labor-management relations. Chung said, "If we build labor-management relations wisely and well, it will be an opportunity to lead globally," and "Labor and management have lived and worked together for a long time, and there have been ups and downs." He added, "The company can develop efficiently only by always choosing the right path, and shareholders are important and national development is important, so I think we should make judgments considering various factors."