Hyundai Motor Co. said he is in initial discussions with Apple Inc. by developing self-driving electric vehicles, sending its shares up to 24% to Seoul.
“Apple and Hyundai are under discussion, but as it is at an early stage, nothing has been decided,” the South Korean manufacturer said in a statement on Friday.
With development work still in its infancy, Apple will take at least half a decade to launch a standalone electric vehicle, people with knowledge of the efforts they told Bloomberg News. Hyundai is accelerating new technologies such as driverless, flying electric cars, including the creation of a $ 4 billion autonomous driving joint venture.
Hyundai’s intraday value increase in Seoul was the largest since 1988. A cable TV unit from the Korea Economic Daily previously reported discussions with Apple. Hyundai has completed internal discussions on the project and is pending approval
the president, according to the report.
Apple declined to comment.
– With the assistance of Mark Gurman
(Updates with Hyundai’s response from the first paragraph.)