Chung Eui-sun visits US for the third time this year to discuss future mobility

Chung Eui-sun, the chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, is visiting the U.S. for the third time in the recent four months. The purpose of the trip is to accelerate future mobility businesses, such as autonomous driving and electric vehicles.

According to the automobile industry Friday, Chung boarded a private jet at the Gimpo International Airport on Friday morning. This is his third trip to the U.S. this year, following the trips in April and June to visit the West Coast and the East Coast, respectively, to examine car sales and projects on robots and self-driving.

It was reported that Chung is accompanied by senior members of the company in charge of the future mobility R&D and strategic areas. They will focus on refining future mobility businesses as the company feels a bigger pressure to obtain market leadership as foreign competitors are accelerating their future mobility businesses, such as autonomous driving and electric vehicles, in the U.S. The company’s plan to invest 7.4 billion dollars in electric car production in the U.S., which was announced prior to the ROK-U.S. summit in May, needs to be further developed.

Meanwhile, Chung will visit the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will launch on July 23. As the president of the Korea Archery Association, he will cheer for the South Korean national archery team for a mixed team competition to be held on July 24 at the Yumenoshima Park Archery Field in Tokyo. Chung may take a look at local competitors’ technologies as the Japanese industries plan to showcase hydrogen and autonomous driving technologies around the Olympics facilities.


Hyung-Seok Seo skytree08@donga.com