Hyundai, Kia say they're not in talks with Apple on autonomous cars
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co said on Monday it is not now in talks with Apple Inc on autonomous electric vehicles, sending the automaker’s shares skidding a month after it said it was in early-stage talks on cars with the tech giant.
In separate regulatory filings, Hyundai and Kia both said, “We are not having talks with Apple on developing autonomous vehicles.”
The comment came in response to a local media report that Apple and Hyundai were in discussions to develop self-driving electric vehicles by 2027 and develop batteries at U.S. factories operated by either Hyundai or Kia.
But the automaker backtracked the same day, releasing subsequent statements that removed all mentions of Apple but said Hyundai was “getting requests for cooperation on joint development of autonomous electric vehicles from various companies”, without identifying any of them.
Reuters reported in December that Apple was moving forward with autonomous car technology and aimed to produce a passenger vehicle that could include its own breakthrough battery technology as early as 2024.
