AI Mobility Momentum: From Korea to Texas, the Global Race to Autonomy Heats Up
Automotive Intelligence
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Artificial intelligence and mobility are merging faster than ever and the latest wave of global announcements shows that the race toward full autonomy is truly worldwide.
From Seoul’s AI factories to Abu Dhabi’s driverless fleets, Japan’s AI-driven vehicles, and Texas’s autonomous EVs, the world’s automakers and tech startups are doubling down on computing power, partnerships, and precision engineering to make autonomy real.
Here’s how four major players Hyundai, Baidu, Sony Honda Mobility, and Mozee are accelerating the AI mobility revolution.
Hyundai Doubles Down on NVIDIA to Reboot Autonomous Driving
Hyundai Motor Group is betting big on NVIDIA to supercharge its AI-driven future, unveiling a sweeping strategy that ties together vehicle autonomy, robotics, and smart factories.
The company will utilize a 50,000-GPU “AI factory” based on NVIDIA’s Blackwell architecture, built for large-scale training, simulation, and development of self-driving algorithms.
Inside vehicles, Hyundai plans to integrate NVIDIA’s DRIVE Thor a next-generation in-car computing platform capable of delivering 2,000 TOPS (trillion operations per second) for real-time autonomous perception and decision-making.
Additionally, the automaker is working with the South Korean government to create a national AI cluster a centralized network designed to accelerate robotaxis, industrial robots, and digital twin simulations.
Together, these initiatives mark Hyundai’s bold comeback into the global autonomy race, closing the gap with leaders like Tesla, Waymo, and Baidu.
Baidu and K2’s AutoGo Expand Abu Dhabi Robotaxi Fleet
K2’s AutoGo has signed a new agreement with Baidu’s Apollo Go to expand their Abu Dhabi robotaxi fleet to hundreds of vehicles by 2026.
The expansion follows their receipt of one of Abu Dhabi’s first fully driverless commercial permits, reflecting the emirate’s emergence as a hub for autonomous mobility in the Middle East.
The collaboration merges Baidu’s autonomous driving stack with K2’s regional operational expertise, aligning with the UAE’s Vision 2031 for smart mobility and AI integration.
With both companies advancing L4 driver-out operations, Abu Dhabi could soon rival cities like San Francisco and Beijing in robotaxi deployment scale.
Sony Honda Mobility Advances AFEELA’s AI Efficiency
Sony Honda Mobility the joint venture behind the AFEELA brand announced major AI R&D breakthroughs improving both performance and efficiency.
The company achieved 3× higher GPU utilization by eliminating data pipeline bottlenecks and introduced a multi-task training method that resolves gradient conflicts, outperforming single-task models in perception and planning benchmarks.
These advances enhance the AFEELA platform’s adaptability for autonomous and semi-autonomous driving scenarios, blending Sony’s sensor expertise with Honda’s automotive reliability.
AFEELA’s AI progress illustrates a growing trend: optimizing not just AI models, but the infrastructure that powers them a key step toward scalable vehicle intelligence.
Texas Startup Mozee Targets 2026 FIFA World Cup with Autonomous Shuttles
In the U.S., North Texas-based Mozee is racing against the clock to deliver 50 autonomous electric shuttles ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Working with the City of Arlington, the startup aims to deploy the vehicles for urban pilots and event mobility, showcasing local innovation at a global sporting event.
Mozee’s vehicles highlight how smaller EV startups are helping cities bridge the gap between testing and deployment using AI-driven navigation to create safe, on-demand public transport solutions.
A Connected Future Powered by AI
From Hyundai’s AI factories in Korea to Baidu’s robotaxis in Abu Dhabi, AFEELA’s intelligent systems in Japan, and Mozee’s autonomous shuttles in Texas, a clear theme is emerging:
AI has become the universal language of mobility innovation.
As 2026 approaches, the convergence of computing power, collaboration, and creativity is steering the world toward a smarter, safer, and seamlessly autonomous future.
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