[NEWS ANALYSIS] Hyundai postpones self-driving launch as customer complaints mount

Hyundai has delayed its Level 3 self-driving launch as drivers complain about issues with the Level 2 systems in its Ioniq 5 and 6 vehicles.

A passerby looks at an EV9 displayed at the Kia EV Unplugged Ground exhibition center in Seongsu-dong of Seongdong District, eastern Seoul. [NEWS1]

Hyundai Motor’s ambitious dream of perfecting its own autonomous vehicles is taking longer than expected as the company has failed to launch cars with its Level 3 self-driving technology by its promised date.

The Korean automaker had originally planned to add a Level 3 autonomous system to its Genesis G90 by the end of last year. The company has since postponed that launch indefinitely.

Kia also said it will launch an EV9 GT model with Level 3 technology, but postponed it without specifying an anticipated date.

Vehicles with Level 3 technology, also known as “conditionally automated driving,” can monitor their environments and manage most aspects of their journeys without human help. They will occasionally request that a human driver intervene.

The delay comes as owners of the company's Ioniq 5 and 6 vehicles report that their Level 2 systems are underwhelming.

A Tesla car runs in San Mateo County, California on Dec. 13. Tesla said the company is recalling more than 2 million of its vehicles over autopilot safety issues after an investigation found its autopilot safety system was ″not sufficient to prevent driver misuse.″ [XINHUA/YONHAP]

“Application of Level 3 technology is taking longer than expected,” Kia CEO Song Ho-sung explained, adding that the company will continue examinations until it “can be sure 100 percent with drivers’ safety.”

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung also mentioned that “self-driving cars will need a longer time than expected due to lots of variables,” and speculated that “flying taxis may hit quicker.”

Hyundai’s capability is already on the chopping block — at least among its EV owners — over its advanced driver assist system (ADAS), with customers reporting that it fails to detect cars properly on the highway.

“With the system on, the car zips along the highway when there is no traffic jam,” said 52-year-old Kim Tae-gyun, an Ioniq 6 owner living in Seodaemun District, western Seoul.

“But when it meets a sudden traffic jam along the way, the car must detect that and slow down the speed,” Kim said. “But it doesn’t, and I almost got in an accident.”

Kim had to press the brake by himself, which automatically turned the system off.

“From then, I can’t readily use the system on highways.”

A 28-year-old Ioniq 5 driver, surnamed Nam, was recently involved in a car accident after his car's adaptive cruise control system — which can both maintain a car's speed and automatically change lanes when its driver activates their turn signal — failed to control the steering wheel properly.

A Cruise driverless taxi owned by General Motors [AP/YONHAP]

“I turned on the system, and I didn’t know that it doesn’t work for the steering wheel and got in a head-on collision with the guardrail,” said Nam. “I should’ve not put faith in its system.”

Many Hyundai owners have shared similar experiences online.

“An Ioniq 5 whizzed on a straightaway, almost crashing a car in front,” said one online commenter from Busan. “I’ve experienced that three times.”

The commenter, who claims to have owned an Ioniq 5, Mercedes-Benz EQE and Tesla Model 3, picked the Ioniq 5 as the worst car in terms of self-driving technology.

Experts say that cars' low-level sensors and radar could be one of the reasons behind their poor performance.

“It depends on how Hyundai tunes the components when applying that to their EVs, and maybe the tuning is not fully done or verification tests are insufficient,” said Seo Seung-woo, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Seoul National University.

“Issues with short distances must be the radar's problems, and automakers have no choice but to choose low-level radars to cut the price,” said Lee Hang-gu, a senior analyst at the Korea Automotive Technology Institute (Katech).

“Level 2 technology is not yet perfect, and the delay for Level 3 is not a big surprise.”

Many global automakers are either pausing or slowing down their development of driverless technology.

Mercedes-Benz and Honda Motor have succeeded in developing Level 3 cars, but their speed is limited to 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour.

Cruise, a General Motors subsidiary, recently suspended the operations of its 400 driverless taxis, having held a permit for just three months, after one of its cars hit a woman in downtown San Francisco, California. Kyle Vogt resigned as the company's CEO.

Argo AI, an autonomous vehicle startup between Ford Motor and Volkswagen, shut down the business in 2022.

Four big automakers — Toyota, BMW, Geely Automobile Holdings and Volkswagen — pumped an average of 49.3 percent of their investments into autonomous driving in 2019. That figure was just 1.3 percent last year as of end of September, according to data from the Katech.

“It’s essential for global automakers to cut production costs and improve EV quality,” said Lim Hyeon-jin, a researcher at Katech. “They will cut the investments toward self-driving but expand them to EVs or the automation of factories.”

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]