Hyundai Doubts Sooner Arrival For Driverless Vehicles: Says Not So Fast on Self-Driving Car

by Benson Agoha | Technology

South Korean car maker, Hyundai, which sold a record 2 million cars in China alone last year believes that driver-less cars may take longer than expected to hit the roads.

* Hyundai's Thomas Schmid

Speaking at the IAA motor show, Frankfurt Germany on Wednesday, Thomas Schmid, Hyundai's head of European operations, said one of the reasons self-driving cars will not make the public road so soon include the fact that such technology would bring with it "huge, huge challenges for our legal systems."

Schmid said "My personal belief is that autonomous driving might come, but by far not as quick as everyone says in 10 or 15 years." 

The fact is that many recent models on the road at the moment are already equipped with assistance systems to help drivers accelerate or brake in traffic and will most certainly form part of the future products, according to the Hyundai Chief.

Alongside the connected car, autonomous driving is one of the new buzzwords in the automobile sector,a report on Industry Week said

And futuristic vehicles that soon may be able to drive themselves are among the technological highlights of the 66th edition of the Frankfurt Motor Show.

The IAA Motor Show opened its doors to the world press on Tuesday and will be accessible to the general public from Saturday.

* Google's Self-driving Vehicle Testing continues

But Schmidt, who spoke from the sidelines, said issues such as "Who is responsible for what?" are to be thrashed out. "I'm not convinced until now that [it] is a process which can be done in the next 10-15 years," he said.

There is also the issue of people's relationships to their cars and individual mobility which are undergoing dramatic change, he said.

Continuing, Schmid said "The kids today have a different approach to individual mobility. The importance is much lower than in my generation and the need to have an own car is also lower," adding "There's a tendency all over Europe, both in urban areas and even in rural areas where fewer and fewer people are actually getting a driving license."

But his caution, notwithstanding, Google is pushing ahead with its own testing, although it has falling short of giving a definite date when the cars are to be rolled out of the factory for commercial sale.

“We still have a lot to learn about how people perceive our vehicles and how they’ll want to fit this technology into their lives and their communities,” said Google spokeswoman Courtney Hohne in an email. 

“We have an outstanding technical leader in Chris Urmson; he has led our technology vision and execution, and he has built important bridges between Silicon Valley and the auto industry. And later this month we’re adding an outstanding business leader in John Krafcik.

“John’s combination of technical expertise and auto industry experience will be particularly valuable as we collaborate with many different partners to achieve our goal of transforming mobility for millions of people.”