Hyundai Mobis Co., auto parts manufacturing unit under South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group, will join hands with Russia’s largest search engine Yandex to develop self-driving car systems.

Hyundai Mobis said Wednesday that it signed a memorandum of understanding with Yandex to develop deep learning-based autonomous driving systems. Under the agreement, the two companies will collaborate on creating an unmanned mobility technology and launch prototypes for tests. Financial terms of the agreement are undisclosed.

Yandex is Russia’s top internet search engine with more than a 60 percent market share. It has actively been engaged in other internet-based services, now claiming No.3 in the car-sharing market and No.1 in car-hailing segment in Russia.

The two companies aim to develop a self-driving platform by the end of this year and finish testing it in Hyundai Motor’s new Sonata sedan due to be released this month. Hyundai Motor is Korea’s largest auto maker and an affiliate of Hyundai Mobis. Once they complete testing the prototype, they will start launching robo-taxis or driverless taxis operated for on-demand mobility services in 2020. They plan to run up to 100 robo-taxis in Russia first then gradually expand the service to other markets.

Hyundai Mobis said it will be responsible for developing sensors and controllers for autonomous driving and vehicle control software. Also, it will conduct various product safety tests such as noise and vibration to have the self-driving platform ready for mass production.

Hyundai Mobis has recently upped its investments in autonomous mobility technology development to stay competitive in the fast-changing industry landscape. In June last year, it invested 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million) to set up a software training center that will reinforce its researchers’ competence in sensors and logic controls, key autonomous driving and connectivity technologies. About two months later, it invested 8 billion won in StradVision Inc., a local AI sensor startup that develops image recognition software backed by deep learning. It has also opened own research labs in the U.S. and China to nurture startups in self-driving technology.

By Moon Ji-woong and Cho Jeehyun

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