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Tag: hyundai mobis

  • Hyundai Mobis net swings to positive in Q4

    Hyundai Mobis net swings to positive in Q4

    Hyundai Mobis, Korea’s biggest auto parts maker, said Friday it shifted to net profit in the October-December period due to a low base effect. A net profit of 419.8 billion won ($374.1 million) was achieved for the three months that ended in December, from a net loss of 168.6 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The result was helped by the high level of corporate taxation reflected in the bottom line for the last quarter of 2017, but there were no such one-off outlays in the final three months of last year, a company spokesman said.

    Operating profit jumped 82 percent to 581.7 billion won in the fourth quarter from 319.4 billion won a year ago.

    Sales rose 9.3 percent to 9.644 trillion won from 8.822 trillion won during the same period.

    In the fourth quarter of 2017, operating profit was hit hard by a diplomatic row between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system, called Thaad, in Korea.

    Operating profit in the last quarter of 2018 rebounded following the easing of bilateral tensions.

    Sales climbed on the back of increased exports of high-end auto components and higher parts sales in after-sales markets despite the won’s strength against the dollar and currencies in emerging markets, the statement said.

    For the whole of 2018, net profit rose 21 percent to 1.888 trillion won from 1.558 trillion won a year earlier. Operating profit remained unchanged at 2.025 trillion won compared to a year ago. Sales also changed little to 35.149 trillion won versus 35.145 trillion won, it said.

  • Boom abroad for Hyundai Mobis high-tech car parts

    Boom abroad for Hyundai Mobis high-tech car parts

    Hyundai Mobis said Tuesday it logged $1.7 billion worth of orders for high-tech automotive parts from non-Korean customers last year, setting a new record for overseas sales. High-tech parts include sensors, display and lamps used for self-driving and electric cars. Last year’s figure is a 40 percent jump from $1.2 billion worth of orders in 2017. The parts company has been rapidly expanding its global presence over the years. Orders for high-tech parts from overseas customers totaled just $500 million in 2015.

    The Hyundai affiliate said the record-breaking result is largely due to increasing demand from overseas electric vehicle companies and its focus on developing future car technologies.

    According to Mobis, it received nearly $1 billion worth orders, 60 percent of its total overseas orders, from electric vehicle companies in North America, Europe and China.

    Many electric car companies are start-ups. A Mobis spokesperson said companies at this stage of development tend to be more aggressive when it comes to investment in technology.

    Recently, Mobis signed a deal to supply steering wheel-mounted displays and smart lamps to electric car companies. The products have yet to be commercialized.

    Steering wheel-mounted displays are fit in the center of the wheel.

    Smart lamps will be used for communicating with pedestrians or other cars through the display of light pattern messages.

    The parts maker also signed a contract to supply lateral radars to a North American company. This type of radar extends the sensing coverage of autonomous vehicles.

    The company said it will continue to expand sales of high value-added electronic parts this year as global automakers increasingly rely on digital features to differentiate their products.

  • KT, Hyundai Mobis join to develop connected-car tech

    KT, Hyundai Mobis join to develop connected-car tech

    KT said Thursday that it will collaborate with Hyundai Mobis to develop self-driving and connected-car technology.  The two companies agreed to work on real-time navigation technology and vehicle-to-everything technology, which will allow cars to communicate with connected devices. To enable development, the telecommunications company said it will install 5G infrastructure at the Hyundai Mobis test-drive course in Seosan, South Chungcheong.

    The fast 5G network will allow sensors on a Hyundai Mobis self-driving car to send significant amounts of data to servers immediately to allow for accurate real-time traffic navigation. The process takes minutes in existing 4G networks.

    The cooperation comes as the two prepare for the fast-growing connected car market. Industry researcher IHS Markit predicted connected-car sales to reach 72.5 million units by 2023 from 24 million units in 2015.

  • Hyundai Mobis shows off futuristic concept self-driving car

    Hyundai Mobis shows off futuristic concept self-driving car

    Hyundai Mobis introduced its concept autonomous car equipped with 26 sensors and a special lighting system that enables cars to communicate with pedestrians at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

    The auto parts maker said it is the first time it has unveiled a concept car with at least Level 4 self-driving capability, which means cars can drive themselves without being actively monitored by the driver.

    The car comes with a modular self-driving kit comprised of various sensors – which function as eyes for the car – on the roof as well as lamps that can send messages to nearby pedestrians or cars. Mobis calls all of the technologies and parts used on the autonomous vehicle M.Vision.

    The kit on the roof – comprised of four lidar sensors, or laser-based radar, and five multifunctional camera sensors – are key strengths of M.Vision, according to Mobis.

    The modular kit can simply be mounted on the roof, so it can easily be used on different vehicles. The Korean company said it is best to put sensors on the car’s roof, considering that sensors can better detect the surrounding environment when they are placed higher above the car. To complement the kit on the roof, Mobis also installed five radar sensors and 12 ultrasonic sensors on the car’s lower body.

    The Korean company is on its way to make all sensors used in the kit with its own technology by 2020.

    The so-called communication lighting technology is a new innovation that Mobis thinks will greatly reduce fatal accidents involving autonomous cars and pedestrians.

    The company said it will use lighting to indicate to pedestrians and other drivers when the car is driving in self-drive mode. Autonomous cars will be able to detect a pedestrian from more than 450 feet away. Once someone is detected, car headlamps will project a red warning symbol to warn people it’s not safe to move around the vehicle.

    “Light has been used as a conduit for communication among vehicles and pedestrians for almost as long as the automobile has existed, so we are excited to lead the evolution of this technology to save lives and offer peace of mind to all that use the road,” said Mirco Goetz, director of lamp engineering at Hyundai Mobis.

    “Our primary focus on the safe progression to future mobility will enable our industry to continue the advancement of autonomous vehicle technology while helping to keep pedestrians and drivers out of harm’s way.”

  • Hyundai Motor bets 6.7 billion dollars on hydrogen cells

    Hyundai Motor bets 6.7 billion dollars on hydrogen cells

    Hyundai Motor Group said it will invest 7.6 trillion won ($6.7 billion) in fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEV) by 2030, betting big on hydrogen as the energy source for the future. The group announced what it called its “FCEV Vision 2030” on Tuesday, promising to build production capacity of 500,000 FCEVs yearly by 2030 to take the lead in the fledgling industry. It added that the investment will generate some 51,000 new jobs by 2030.

    As a first step, Hyundai Mobis, the auto parts and software affiliate of Hyundai Motor, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its second fuel cell stack factory in Chungju, North Chungcheong, on Tuesday.

    If the factory is completed in 2022, Hyundai Motor Group’s production capacity for fuel cell stack will expand from its current 3,000 units per year to 40,000 units.

    “Hyundai Motor Group will become the first mover in the new hydrogen society that will arrive soon,” said Chung Eui-sun, Hyundai Motor Group’s executive vice chairman, in a speech at the ceremony in Chungju on Tuesday.

    “The group plans to expand the fuel cell stack production capacity to 700,000 units by 2030, including for the 500,000 FCEVs we plan to make by that year.”

    The ceremony was attended by Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Sung Yung-mo, Hyundai Motor President Chung Jin-haeng and Hyundai Mobis President Lim Young-deuk.

    Hyundai Mobis’ Chungju plant is focused on producing parts for eco-friendly vehicles like hybrid and electric cars.

    Last year, it constructed a new section dedicated to making fuel cell stacks with a capacity of 3,000 units per year.

    The carmaker forecasts that hydrogen will be used as an energy source in shipbuilding, railways and forklifts in the future and said it would start a business supplying fuel cell modules to other companies. The additional 200,000 units of FCEV modules that are not used in Hyundai Motor’s own FCEVs by 2030 will be sold elsewhere, the carmaker said.

    Executive Vice Chairman Chung said the FCEV industry will become a new growth engine for Korea.

    “Ninety-nine percent of auto parts in FCEVs are made domestically,” Chung said, “which is why its growth will have big ripple effects on other companies related to the industry. Through co-investment with partner companies, [Hyundai Motor] will try to build new growth engine for Korea’s future car industry.”

    Currently, some 130 partner companies are providing parts for fuel cell stacks made by Hyundai Mobis.

    Hyundai Motor has been making hefty investments in FCEVs along with rival Toyota. It was the first carmaker in the world to make a mass-produced FCEV model in 2013 called the Tucson ix35. It launched a hydrogen-powered Nexo SUV early this year.

    Since last year, the carmaker has been chairing the Hydrogen Council, a global lobbying group. Other companies represented on the council include Daimler, BMW and Air Liquide.

    The Korean government plans to supply 16,000 FCEVs and build 310 FCEV charging stations by 2022. There are currently only around 10 stations available to the public in Korea.

    China plans to supply 1 million FCEVs by 2030 and construct 1,000 charging stations. Japan plans to supply 40,000 FCEVs by 2020 and build 160 charging stations.

  • Hyundai Mobis makes autonomous car radar

    Hyundai Mobis makes autonomous car radar

    Hyundai Mobis said Thursday that it developed its own short-range radar system for use in autonomous cars and plans to offer the system to local automakers from 2020.

    Radar can be used as an object detection system to help self-driving cars avoid collisions. The company said it is the first local firm to develop this type of radar on its own.

    The short-range radar developed by the auto parts maker is used for blind-spot collision warnings, a driver assistance service that alerts drivers of a potential collision with a car behind it, depending on the position and speed of the car to the rear.

    According to Hyundai Mobis, its radar works twice as fast as existing systems and detects objects 1.5 times further away. The hardware for the system weighs roughly 120 grams (4.2 ounces), half the amount of existing devices, the company said.

    Local automakers have been depending on imports for object detection systems and the Hyundai Motor affiliate said its system can replace imported radar.

    The parts maker’s goal is to develop four different radar systems used in self-driving cars within this year. To develop high-performance long range radar, the company is working with two German radar companies.

    According to Hyundai Mobis, the market for radar systems for cars will grow by an average of 20 percent every year to reach 20 trillion won ($17.8 billion) by 2023.

    Gregory Baratoff, the vice president of Hyundai Mobis’ DAS engineering group, said the company will soon introduce video recognition technology and sensor fusion technology that integrates data collected from different sensors with the ultimate goal of developing parts for fully autonomous cars, in a statement Thursday.

    To expand its sensor portfolio by 2020, the company said it will secure technologies to develop all types of sensors used in self-driving cars.

  • Hyundai Mobis finds a job for AI

    Hyundai Mobis finds a job for AI

    Auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis announced Sunday that it has developed artificial intelligence-based software and a chatbot equipped with a deep learning algorithm to speed up its research in smart car technology.

    The artificial intelligence-based software is called Maist, short for Mobis Artificial Intelligence Software Testing, and has been co-developed by a research team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology led by Professor Kim Moon-zoo.

    Maist is designed to test different software that is to be installed in cars. According to Hyundai Mobis, installing Maist will double the efficiency of the software development process.

    “About 50-70 percent of the testing process will be done by Maist from now on, allowing researchers to engage in more creative works,” an official at Hyundai Mobis said.

    The chatbot is called Maibot, short for Mobis AI Robot, and is able to search through the lab’s cloud, home to more than 200,000 research cases, to find material that a user is looking for. The algorithm will allow Maibot to become more advanced, Hyundai Mobis said.