Hyundai celebrates driverless breakthrough

Hyundai has conducted tests on public highways that prove it is catching up with its rivals when it comes to autonomous driving technology.

The convoy of five self-driving NEXO fuel-cell vehicles set off from the South Korean capital Seoul to Pyeongchang - the site of the 2018 Winter Olympics,

Equipped with the car maker's 'Level 4' self-driving technology - that requires zero input from the human driver - the five vehicles drove on a mixture of public roads that included stretches if highways where the five vehicles cruised at 110km/h.

On the highway the small convoy of five NEXOs safely joined fast-moving traffic, made lane changes and overtakes and even navigated toll gates without issues.

Despite the breakthrough, that has been backed up with hundreds of thousands of kilometres of real-world testing, the Korean car maker will only offer its Level 4 driverless tech from 2021 in 'smart cities' with embedded sensors in the road's infrastructure.

Full autonomous driving technology will only be offered everywhere by the car maker much later in 2030.

The NEXO, meanwhile, will be here much sooner and could be on sale here in Australia before the end of this year.

Unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last month, the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle replaces the car maker's old Tucson fuel cell vehicle.

Combining a 95kW hydrogen fuel-cell, a 40kWh battery and a 120kW electric motor, in total the NEXO produces 135kW/395Nm - enough to help it hit 100km/h in 9.6 seconds.

With a claimed range of 600km, the Korean car maker says that during its development some drivers could increase that range to around 800km.

Pricing for the Australian market have yet to be confirmed by Hyundai Australia, but an insider says the Korean car maker is aiming for a sub-$100,000 price tag.