Hyundai & WeRide Plan To Have Self Driving Cars Propelled By Hydrogen In China

Hyundai has been pushing sustainable mobility for a while now as its electric cars like the Ioniq 5 have been rated as the world car of the year. But now it is pushing for hydrogen as well. It has partnered with WeRide in China which is one of the most well-funded robotaxi operators in China for self-driving hydrogen-powered vehicle pilot zones in Guangzhou which has become the self-driving hub of China in the last couple of years. 

China is driving to decarbonise its economy and there is a lot of R & D going for the same. Hydrogen is known to be the cleanest form of propulsion, but the infrastructure isn’t in place for the same. In fact, Hyundai and WeRide are involving Hengyun, a Chinese power generation company and all three will work together to create demand for the hydrogen fuel cell battery in unmanned street cleaning and ride-hailing vehicles. 

This is not the first time Hyundai has said that it has ambitions for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Last month it revealed that by 2028, it had plans to have fuel cell variants for all commercial vehicles. The advantage that hydrogen has over electric cars is that charging isn’t an issue. These cars can be refuelled in minutes which makes them ideal for taxis. 

Guangzhou is China’s hub for self-driving car experiments and Hyundai has been making vehicles based on hydrogen fuel cells in the city since March 2021. The South Korean giant has a plan of making 6,500 vehicles annually and expanding its capacity in line with Chinese market conditions and government policies which are in favour of clean energy use. 

China is becoming the electric car hub of the world with Tesla having one of its largest manufacturing plants there. There are local players like BYD, Nio and XPeng who are making huge strides and CATL is also the biggest maker of electric vehicles.