Autonomous vehicle technology company Aurora has partnered with Hyundai Motor Company to develop self-driving Hyundai vehicles, which they hope to bring to market by 2021.

Through the partnership, Aurora’s self-driving technology will be installed in Hyundai’s vehicles, beginning with models custom-developed and launched in test programs and pilot cities.

The partnership will initially focus on the ongoing development of hardware and software for automated and autonomous driving, as well as the back-end data services required for Level 4 automation. According to the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Level 4 autonomous vehicles can operate without human input or oversight under certain conditions.  

“We know the future of transportation is autonomous, and autonomous driving technology needs to be proven in the real-world to accelerate deployment in a safe and scalable manner,” says Dr. Woong Chul Yang, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor.

“Combining our advanced vehicle technology that embeds the latest safety features with Aurora’s leading suite of Level 4 autonomous technology will advance this revolution in mobility with Hyundai in a leadership position.”

For Hyundai, the partnership with Aurora is a part of its ongoing efforts to make fully autonomous driving a reality, efforts which date back several years.

After being granted a license by the state of Nevada, Hyundai began testing autonomous vehicles on public roads in the United States in 2015.

During CES 2017, Hyundai advanced its trials in urban environments, and used its autonomous IONIQ models to demonstrate self-driving technologies to the public.

Next week during CES 2018, Hyundai will debut its latest new-generation fuel-cell vehicle, which will be the first model used in the test processes starting this year.

Hyundai says that the fuel-cell powertrain “will offer an ideal platform to implement autonomous driving technologies, which requires a massive amount of power to support the large amount of data communication as well as the operation of hardware such as sensors.”

Hyundai adds that a hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle will be capable of providing a “stable electric power supply without concerns about driving range.”