Hyundai Motor Group injects 336 billion won into Motional, raising stake to 88%

Hyundai Motor Group has made an additional capital injection of about 336 billion won (about $248 million) into Motional, its US autonomous driving joint venture, raising its stake to 88%. Despite shrinking investment in the global autonomous driving market, the group is continuing long-term investment to internalize fully autonomous driving technology and secure leadership.

According to a third-quarter 2026 report (10-Q) filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Aptiv, a US automotive electronics company, Hyundai Motor Group invested $250 million (about 336 billion won) on Aug. 14 in exchange for additional common shares of Motional. Co-founder Aptiv did not participate in the funding.

As a result, Aptiv's common equity stake in Motional fell from about 13% at the end of June this year to about 12% at the end of September. Conversely, Hyundai Motor Group's stake increased from 87% to 88%. Through the transaction, Aptiv recognized a net gain of about $19 million (about $0.09 per share) in its third-quarter consolidated income statement via equity method accounting.

Motional was established in 2020 as a 50-50 joint venture after Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv each invested $2 billion. However, as losses accumulated due to delays in robotaxi commercialization and massive development costs, Aptiv announced in early 2024 that it would stop additional funding for Motional.

Hyundai Motor Group then spent about 1.3 trillion won (about $959 million) in May 2024 on a capital increase and purchase of some Aptiv shares, securing an 85% stake and becoming the largest shareholder. Despite the partner's exit, Hyundai Motor Group has solidified its role as Motional's sole funding source and is leading the business.

Motional is currently in the final stages of commercialization, along with a business reorganization including management changes. In cooperation with Uber, it plans to launch a formal robotaxi service based on the Ioniq 5 in Las Vegas at the end of this year.

The plan is to convert the pilot operation, which has been running with safety drivers at a base in downtown Las Vegas since March, to a fully driverless service. Level 4 autonomous driving technology certified under US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) will be applied.

This contrasts with global major companies such as Ford, General Motors (GM), and Apple, which have reduced or withdrawn autonomous driving investment due to profitability and safety concerns. Hyundai Motor Group plans to use Motional's autonomous driving technology as a key driver in its long-term transition to software-defined vehicles (SDVs).

(Dollar figures are approximate, converted automatically at 1,000 won = $0.738, the rate on Nov. 8, 2026.)

※ This article is an AI translation of the Korean original published by Korea Credit News; it was checked by automated quality guards and published by the English edition desk.