Hyundai Motor’s open-innovation business has inked a partnership with US-based fleet management software company Netradyne to create digital maps necessary for autonomous driving technologies, Hyundai Motor America said Thursday.

Hyundai Cradle, the automaker’s wholly owned venture capital arm, said its partnership and investment in Netradyne would help the firm build a high-definition map for level-three advanced driver assistance systems, according to Hyundai Motor America.

Under the standards established by the US-based Society of Automobile Engineers, level-three advanced driver assistance systems allow cars to steer, accelerate, decelerate and pass other vehicles without human control. Most current systems are categorized below level two, which gives cars less autonomous control.

Hyundai did not reveal the size of the investment. 

Netradyne currently provides artificial intelligence-based dashcams, known as the “Driveri system,” for fleet vehicles, which are used to monitor and collect visual data on drivers’ behavior and road conditions.

The startup was launched in 2015 by two former Qualcomm executives. It raised $21 million last year in Series B funding, which was led by Microsoft’s corporate venture arm, M12, along with Reliance Industries and Point72 Ventures. India-based Reliance had also invested $16 million in Netradyne’s Series A funding.



(mkjung@heraldcorp.com)