[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Mobis spent 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million) to create the Mobis Software Academy at its research center in Gyeonggi Province to offer extensive software training to some 400 researchers, according to the firm on June 10.

Most of the training would evolve around software related to self-driving cars.

Mobis also said by 2025, the firm would increase the number of software developers by five times, up from the current 800. 

“In the age of autonomous driving, we need software that functions properly in extreme conditions and protects vehicles from hacking, which is why Mobis has invested in the new program,” said the auto parts unit of Hyundai Motor Group.

 

Researchers at Hyundai Mobis'SoftwareAcademy.
Hyundai Mobis

Vehicles are now controlled by software to the tune of about 10 percent, with the remaining relying on hardware. This ratio will rise to 30 percent by 2030, according to McKinsey & Co.

Hyundai Mobis has been increasingly investing in future cars including self-driven vehicles, both at home and abroad. The role of its research center in Hyderabad, a growing tech hub in India, was established in 2007 to test autonomous software. It now puts together software for automated driving along with multimedia software.

Besides analyzing data collected by Mobis’ autonomous car model M.Billy, the research center will also factor in local road conditions to the autonomous driving simulation created there, it added.

The research branch in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, established jointly with a Vietnamese company last year, will categorize the information M.Billy gathers by automobile, pedestrian, or facility, among others.

To mass produce a self-developed level three self-driving system by 2022, Mobis is test-driving three units of M.Billy in Korea, the US and Germany. It plans to conduct test runs on 20 units of M.Billy next year.

Last month, Mobis hired Carsten Weiss, a former executive of Continental AG, who had been in charge of developing software platforms and overseeing cyber security to bolster its software division. 

By Kim Bo-gyung/The Korea Herald (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)