Hyundai-Kia No Longer In Talks With Apple For Autonomous EV

The announcement came at a significant loss to the market value of both companies

• Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai and Kia included) was earlier reported to have been in talks with Apple over a potential tie-up.

• Apple is reportedly planning to launch a passenger EV with fully-autonomous driving tech by 2024.

• Hyundai announced that it is not in talks with Apple for developing autonomous vehicles, but has been approached by unspecified parties for the same.

• Apple has still not made an official comment regarding its plans for the rumoured iCar or its development.

There has been a lot of back and forth about tech-giant Apple joining the automotive sector with an autonomous EV. A January report stated that Apple was in talks with Hyundai Motor Group (includes Hyundai and Kia) for a potential partnership to develop the Apple car. However, the Korean automotive conglomerate has announced that they are, in fact, not in talks with Apple.

As part of a public announcement addressing rumours, the carmakers stated, “We are not having talks with Apple on developing autonomous vehicles.” However, they confirmed that they were indeed receiving requests, presumably from other parties, to develop autonomous vehicles collaboratively, but nothing was finalised yet.. This announcement had a significant impact on the market value of both the companies, costing them an estimated US$ 5.5 billion (more than Rs 40,000 crore).

Meanwhile, Apple has been tight-lipped about its future, sending out no official word on its supposed plans of an EV or about talks with any other carmaker for that matter. In December, it was reported that the US-based tech company was planning to launch its passenger vehicle by 2024, which could use in-house battery technology to reduce costs and increase range.

Apple could probably be considering its options for developing an autonomous EV, likely in collaboration with an established automotive brand. However, the rumoured iCar still seems to be just that -- a rumour.

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