SEOUL (Reuters) – Hyundai Motor and Apple Inc. plan to sign a partnership agreement on autonomous electric cars by March and launch in the United States around 2024, the local newspaper Korea IT News reported on Sunday.
The report follows a statement Friday from Hyundai Motor that it was in early talks with Apple after another local media said that the companies want to introduce a self-driving electric car in 2027, increasing Hyundai shares by almost 20%.
Hyundai Motor declined to comment on the report on Sunday, reiterating on Friday that it had received requests for potential co-operation from various companies on the development of autonomous EVs.
Apple did not immediately comment.
An updated version of the IT news release removed details, including production facilities and capacity, and the timeframe for signing the agreement and launching the pilot vehicles.
In the previous version, it is said that the companies plan to build the cars at Kia Motors’ plant in Georgia, or to jointly invest in a new plant in the United States to produce 100,000 vehicles around 2024. The total annual capacity of the proposed plant would be 400,000 vehicles.
Kia Motors is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor.
The report also said Hyundai and Apple plan to release a “beta version” of the Apple cars next year.
Reuters reported last month that Apple is moving forward with autonomous car technology and aims to produce a passenger vehicle as early as 2024 that could include its own breakthrough battery technology.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Edited by Elaine Hardcastle and Barbara Lewis