The first step towards whole vehicle development was the Project Mercury collaboration between Hyundai and United Technologies Corporation (UTC). A number of vehicles were developed during the collaboration, with system improvements in powertrain performance and increasing range capabilities culminating in the final vehicle, MercuryⅡ.  This was based on the JM Tucson platform with an 80kW fuel cell system, 337km range and the ability to start from temperatures as low as -20 degree Celsius.

In 2000, Hyundai also launched the Polaris project in conjunction with the Korean Government’s G7 Project. The G7 Project was an initiative to help close the technological gap that existed between Korea and other advanced countries, specifically in the field of eco-innovation. The Polaris project saw Hyundai independently develop complete fuel cell vehicle systems, which lead to several project vehicles such as Polaris Ⅱ which showcased a Hyundai fuel cell system with an output of 80kW and a range of 370km.

At the same time as the PolarisⅡ was in development, Hyundai produced its first fuel cell bus in 2005, with a 160kW fuel cell system and an operating range of 380km. Hyundai also began in-house electric vehicle research in the early 1990’s. The two technologies became unified for the first time in the 2007 Tucson FCEV, which had a combined fuel cell and battery electric drivetrain output of 100kW and a range of 370km. Fuel cell bus development continued alongside passenger vehicles, with the 2009 2nd Generation Fuel Cell Bus offering a combined fuel cell system power of 200kW and an operating range of 380km.

2010 saw two milestones in the company’s fuel cell technology development: the accumulative distance covered by all Hyundai fuel cell vehicles reached the two million km mark and the new ix35 FCEV prototype was launched. This fuel cell vehicle was the first Hyundai to use high pressure 700bar fuel storage, boosting range to 635km from the 100kW fuel cell drivetrain.

Significantly in 2013, Hyundai became the first manufacturer to series produce the ix35 Fuel Cell electric vehicle. The 100kW fuel cell system and 700bar storage produced an NEDC certified 594km range.

In 2014, Hyundai unveiled the Intrado concept at the Geneva Motor Show. This concept showcased a focus on usability and adaptability, using advanced materials such as high strength steel and carbon fibre and new manufacturing and joining techniques that together have the potential to change the way cars are made. Intrado demonstrated a next-generation hydrogen fuel-cell powertrain with a hybrid Li-ion 36 kW battery, with a range of over 600 km.

By 2015, ix35 Fuel Cell sales were taking place across the world, including 13 countries in Europe. In the UK, 17 customers (from private companies, car sharing organisations and government agencies) became the first to drive hydrogen fuel cell cars. Across the European continent, the ix35 Fuel Cell vehicles on the road covered more than 1.2 million km’s.

Hyundai’s ongoing commitment to fuel cell development was shown in 2017, with the FE Fuel Cell concept that was shown at the Geneva Motor Show. It featured new drivetrain technology including a fuel cell stack 20 percent lighter than that of the ix35 Fuel Cell, yet with an increased power density of 30 percent and a range of over 800km.

2018 was another landmark year for the company’s fuel cell story, with the launch of NEXO, the only fuel cell SUV in the world. Following this the company announced its long-term roadmap - ‘Fuel Cell Vision 2030’ - to reaffirm its commitment to accelerate the development of a hydrogen society by leveraging the group’s global leadership in fuel-cell technologies. Aligned with the roadmap, Hyundai Motor Group has pledged to drastically boost annual fuel-cell system production capacity to 700,000 units by 2030 and explore new business opportunities to supply fuel-cell systems to other transportation manufacturers of vehicles, drones, vessels, rolling stocks and forklifts. The demand for fuel-cell systems from sectors beyond transportation such as power generation and storage systems is also expected to emerge quickly.

In May 2019, the Hyundai Motor Group announced an investment of €80 million in Rimac and is also aiming to lead the high-performance electrified vehicle market. The companies have been working closely together to develop prototypes for both an electric version of Hyundai’s N brand mid-ship sports car and a high-performance fuel cell electric vehicle with the intent to bring them to market.

In September 2019, Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility was formed - a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Company and H2 Energy. In turn, an additional partnership was forged with Hydrospider - a joint venture of H2Energy, Alpiq and Linde to promote green hydrogen ecosystem in Switzerland and other European countries. As part of this partnership, Hyundai Hydrogen Mobility plans to bring 1,600 Hyundai H2 Xcient Fuel Cell Electric Trucks, marking the entry of the automaker into Europe’s clean mobility commercial vehicle sector.

The Hyundai H2 XCIENT Fuel Cell truck features a new 190 kW hydrogen fuel cell system with two 95 kW fuel cell stacks connected in parallel. It delivers a single-fuelling travel range of more than 400 km, with a fuel storage capacity of almost 35kg of hydrogen.

Showcasing an alternative usage of our fuel cell stacks, the company previewed the Hyundai Generator, a portable charging station for electric vehicles and the newest feature of emission free electric charging at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show. The generator consists of two fuel cell stacks and combined hydrogen storage, giving the ability to charge two EVs simultaneously at high speed. As a comprehensive service provider of the new eTCR (Electric Touring Car Racing) championship, Hyundai will be providing the generator as a recharging system for all the cars to both showcase its technical leadership and accelerate the transition to clean e-technology.

As the Hyundai Motor Group positions itself as a global leader in clean vehicle technology, it also understands that there are considerable benefits in leveraging collective R&D capabilities across the industry. An example of this is the partnership between Hyundai Motor Group and Audi, which has seen both manufacturers share fuel cell technology developments to elevate their presence in the future fuel cell electric vehicle market.

Hyundai Motor Group also plans to strengthen its competitiveness in the fuel cell components industry, engaging in new business opportunities created by partnerships with other vehicle manufacturers. Hyundai Mobis, the leading FCEV components manufacturer of the Group, is continuously expanding its role in developing and supplying proprietary core components for Hyundai and other OEM’s fuel cell electric vehicles. Hyundai Mobis was the first company in the world to establish an integrated production system for core components of fuel cell electric vehicles and the company’s plant in Chungju, South Korea, already has the production capacity of 3,000 powertrain fuel cell complete (PFC) modules per year, and has capacity to produce tens of thousands of PFC modules down the road to meet forecast market demand. PFC modules are fuel stacks, drive motors, power electronic components and hydrogen fuel supply units.

Long ranges and short refuelling times make hydrogen an attractive future source of energy for electric mobility. This is particularly true for larger automobiles, where the weight advantages of the fuel cell vehicle inherent to its design are particularly pronounced. Key aspects for its future market success include the regenerative production of hydrogen and the establishment of a sufficient infrastructure. (MT) ​​

Comments (0)

ADD COMMENT

Link Copied!

Bengaluru-headquartered ER&D company L&T Technology Services (LTTS) has announced a multi-year engagement within its mobility segment from an automotive manufacturer. The agreement involves software, connectivity and digital engineering services across vehicle technology domains. This win follows the company’s investments in R&D labs and mobility infrastructure designed for programs with global manufacturers.

The engagement covers mobility engineering capabilities, including embedded systems, digital platforms, verification and validation, cloud integration and cybersecurity. LTTS intends to use its engineering expertise and delivery frameworks to support the customer's technology roadmap. 

At present, LTTS operates 22 design centres and 100 innovation labs globally.

The agreement strengthens the partnership between LTTS and the automotive manufacturer in the area of mobility engineering. The company provides design, development, and testing services across the mobility, sustainability, and tech segments. 

Alind Saxena, Executive Director and President, Mobility and Tech at L&T Technology Services, said, “We are proud to deepen our partnership with the valued customer through this strategic engagement. LTTS brings together domain-led engineering, secure development practices and excellence in global delivery to accelerate the future of premium mobility. The win reflects the trust placed in our teams and our commitment to delivering world-class engineering at scale”.

Comments (0)

ADD COMMENT

Link Copied!

French technology company Valeo and NATIX Network have announced a partnership to develop a multi-camera World Foundation Model (WFM). The project combines Valeo’s research in artificial intelligence and generative modelling with NATIX’s decentralised physical infrastructure network (DePIN) to create an open-source platform for autonomous driving and robotics.

The initiative aims to move beyond perception-based models by creating a system capable of predicting future states and reasoning about physical interactions in a four-dimensional environment. The model will be trained using NATIX’s data network, which has collected 600,000 hours of video data across the US, Europe and Asia over seven months. This data provides the multi-camera inputs necessary for the spatial perception required by autonomous vehicles and robots.

The partnership builds upon Valeo’s existing open-source frameworks, VaViM (Video Autoregressive Model) and VaVAM (Video-Action Model). While these frameworks were previously trained primarily on front-camera datasets, the integration of NATIX’s multi-camera network expands the AI’s field of vision to 360 degrees.

Under the open-source framework, the partners will release models, datasets and training tools. This approach is intended to allow the research community to fine-tune models and benchmark physical AI across various driving conditions and geographic regions. The collaboration seeks to accelerate the deployment of end-to-end AI models by learning from real-world edge cases captured by vehicles in operation.

Marc Vrecko, Chief Executive Officer, Valeo’s Brain Division, said, “Since our creation in 2018, Valeo’s AI research center has been at the forefront of AI research in the automotive industry, especially in the fields of assisted and autonomous driving. Our goal has always been to advance mobility intelligence safely and responsibly. By combining Valeo’s generative world modeling research expertise with NATIX’s global multi-camera data, we are accelerating both the quality and the accessibility of next-generation end-to-end AI models, enabling the research community to build upon strong open models.”

Alireza Ghods, CEO and Co-Founder, NATIX, added, “WFMs are a once-in-a-generation opportunity — similar to the rise of LLMs in 2017–2020. The teams that build the first scalable world models will define the foundation of the next AI wave: Physical AIs. With our distributed multi-camera network, NATIX has a clear advantage of being able to move faster than large OEMs.”

Comments (0)

ADD COMMENT

Link Copied!

Tata Technologies has announced the completion of the 3^rd edition of its innovation hackathon, InnoVent 2026, supported by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The initiative invited engineering students to develop solutions for mobility challenges in the automotive and manufacturing sectors. The programme received participation from 10,247 students across 404 colleges in India, resulting in 2,822 projects.

The competition focused on the theme of intelligence-driven mobility for the year 2030. Participants received over 650 hours of mentoring and training from subject matter experts to convert their concepts into prototypes. The top 10 teams presented their work at the company's Hinjewadi campus in Pune before a jury of industry leaders from Jaguar Land Rover, Air India and ES-Tec Group.

Team Drushti from CMR College of Engineering & Technology, Hyderabad, secured the first prize of INR 300,000 for a system that customises vehicle infotainment for visually impaired drivers. Second place went to Team The T-Factor from Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, for an AI-based breakdown prevention system. Team SwarmSync from the International Institute of Information Technology (I²IT), Pune, took third place for an intelligent fleet management solution using V2X communication.

Tata Technologies offered career opportunities to all 42 finalists involved in the top projects. Furthermore, all participants were granted one-year access to the iGETIT learning platform to study emerging technologies. The finalist projects covered areas such as blockchain for vehicle security, wireless charging for electric vehicles, and AI-led battery monitoring.

The event featured a humanoid robot that performed roles such as coordinating panel discussions and interacting with attendees. A panel of industry experts discussed the global demand for engineering talent and the impact of technology on future mobility.

Warren Harris, MD & CEO, Tata Technologies, said, "InnoVent at Tata Technologies represents our conviction that the future is shaped by those who combine engineering excellence with human purpose to engineer a better world".

Comments (0)

ADD COMMENT

Link Copied!

Kia India has announced the re-launch of its Kia Inspiring Drive (K.I.D) Program, debuting alongside the New Kia Seltos. The initiative is a driving score system designed to monitor real-time behaviour and provide insights into habits. Accessed via the Kia Connect app, the programme will be rolled out across the company’s connected vehicle portfolio in phases.

The K.I.D score is calculated using a three-month rolling average based on parameters including rapid acceleration, rapid deceleration and sudden starts. To ensure data accuracy, the system applies a weighted value based on the specific vehicle. This methodology aims to reflect long-term driving patterns rather than isolated incidents.

The programme incorporates community-based leaderboards, allowing owners to compare scores and track their standing within the Kia community. By turning road safety into an interactive experience, the manufacturer intends to encourage responsible driving through recognition and competition.

The behaviour-based scoring system provides data to help users understand the impact of their habits on road safety. Kia is supporting the re-launch with a digital and press campaign to increase awareness among its customer base.

Atul Sood, Senior Vice-President – Marketing & Sales, Kia India, said, “Safety remains at the core of Kia’s philosophy, and with the re-launch of the Kia Inspiring Drive program alongside the New Seltos, we are taking another meaningful step towards encouraging responsible driving behaviour. By offering customers clear, data-driven insights into their driving patterns, the KID program empowers them to make safer choices on the road, while also enhancing their overall ownership experience.”

Comments (0)

ADD COMMENT

Link Copied!