Hyundai reels in top AI scholars for future mobility solutions push

At this year’s CES 2020 event, Hyundai Motor Corporation unveiled a magnanimous vision for future mobility where land and aerial modes of transportation are inextricably linked together. The three-tiered project, collectively known as Urban Air Mobility, Purpose Built Vehicle and Hub (UAM-PBV-Hub), is “a key future innovation business that can help overcome urban challenges like traffic congestion and transform the paradigm of mobility.”

Despite the project’s enormous size and scope, it’s not the only sizeable investment that Hyundai plans to make as far as smart mobility solutions go. And so to ensure these projects and more proceed according to plan and schedule, the South Korean carmaker has tapped into the expertise of the best AI minds in the business.

The company has announced the recruitment of top scholars in artificial intelligence (AI), Tomaso A. Poggio and Daniela L. Rus, as part of its AI Technology Advisory Group to help guide its future artificial intelligence plans.

Hyundai provides the following credentials for its two new hires:

Professor Tomaso A. Poggio

• Born in 1947
• 1970: University of Genoa, Italy, PhD.
• 2014: American Society of Neurology Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience

Present:

• The Eugene McDermott Professor at the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
• Director of the Center for Brain, Minds and Machines, MIT
• Member of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT
• Member of the Faculty of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research

Daniela L. Rus

• Born in 1963
• 1993: Cornell University, USA, PhD.
• 2002: MacArthur Fellow, Fellow of ACM and AAAI, and member of the National Academy of Engineers, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Present:

• The Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT
• Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, MIT
• Member of President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST)

The world-renowned AI experts will work with Hyundai’s in-house advisory group and counsel them in the company’s overall AI investment, research and development.

The advisory group that Poggio and Rus will be joining comprises many other established experts in the field. The group will serve three main functions, consulting on:

• the planning of new AI-based technology strategies and business opportunities
• the establishment of global research organizations
• investments for securing AI-related research infrastructure

By hiring these and other expert AI consultants, Hyundai puts itself in a great position to proactively respond to the growing competition in future vehicle development, as well as elevate and strengthen the brand’s expertise in AI technology research in myriad ways. In the digital age, both are ultimately necessary for a multinational company like Hyundai to achieve sustainable growth.

To realize a sustainable future mobility, Hyundai is going through an ambitious transformation from simply being an automotive manufacturer to a genuine Smart Mobility Solution Provider. That's why it is heavily invested and engaged in various projects and collaborations covering AI, autonomous driving, electrification and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), all  of which will be fueled by the input of the AI Technology Advisory Group that Poggio and Rus now belong to.

“It is highly meaningful for me to work together with world-leading minds in artificial intelligence and explore ways to incorporate AI technology in the mobility industry,” said Jeong Hee Kim, Vice President and Head of AIRS Company at Hyundai Motor Company. “Hyundai Motor Group will continue to develop technologies and cooperate with diverse global institutions to become a frontrunner in the future mobility industry.”

Photo/s from Hyundai

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