Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun and Jensen Huang, NVIDIA Chief Executive Officer (CEO, photo), met again on site at CES 2026 in Las Vegas, which opened on the 6th (local time). It has been a little over two months since their “kkangbu meeting” at a fried chicken restaurant in Seoul during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit at the end of October last year. With the two leaders, both focusing on “autonomous driving,” meeting again, attention is focusing on whether Hyundai’s autonomous driving will be equipped with the “NVIDIA” brain.

● Autonomous driving industry courts NVIDIA

On the 6th, Chairman Chung met with CEO Huang for about 30 minutes at the Fontainebleau hotel in Las Vegas. Although the specific details of their conversation were not disclosed, the prevailing view is that they discussed cooperation plans related to autonomous driving. The meeting took place immediately after Huang unveiled the autonomous driving platform “Alpamayo” on site on the 5th.

The two companies have been deepening their relationship, signing a strategic partnership in January last year and entering into a business agreement in October to advance physical AI capabilities. In particular, some observers predict that Hyundai may seek a breakthrough in its “autonomous driving technology gap” debate—sparked by the resignation of former AVP (Advanced Vehicle Platform) head Song Chang-hyun (president) and the domestic unveiling of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology—through collaboration with NVIDIA. Hyundai Motor Group Vice Chairman Chang Jae-hoon also said at a press conference one day before the opening of CES, “It is the right strategy to quickly decide on directions of cooperation with global leading companies and secure our position.”

Boston Dynamics, Hyundai’s robotics subsidiary, also signed a strategic partnership with Google DeepMind in Las Vegas on the 5th to jointly develop humanoid technologies.



In the global automotive industry, collaboration on autonomous driving technologies with big tech companies such as NVIDIA is becoming mainstream. NVIDIA’s “Alpamayo” has already been installed in Mercedes-Benz’s new compact model “CLA” and is set to be launched in the U.S. market in the first quarter of this year. GM is jointly developing with NVIDIA an upgrade of its recently unveiled Level 2 (driver-supervised) “Super Cruise” fully autonomous driving system to Level 3 (driver-supervised only in emergencies). U.S. electric vehicle maker Lucid and Uber are also working with NVIDIA to develop Level 4 (driver-unsupervised) autonomous driving systems.

However, many analysts believe that even if Hyundai Motor Group collaborates with NVIDIA to accelerate development, it will not give up research on software AI development itself. In a New Year’s video address pre-recorded and released internally at Hyundai Motor Group on the 5th, Chairman Chung stressed, “Physical AI and digital (software) AI are essentially the same,” adding, “The source of innovation is digital AI, and we must secure internalized AI methodologies through in-house language model research.”

● Surprise Samsung–Hyundai collaboration proposal at CES

Chairman Chung toured the booths of major partners at CES 2026 on the 6th. Immediately after the opening, he visited the Samsung, LG, and Hyundai exhibition halls together with Samsung Electronics DX Division head Roh Tae-moon, president, and suggested a “surprise collaboration” by saying, “Try combining our ‘MobED’ with Samsung’s robot vacuum cleaner.” MobED is an AI mobility robot equipped with technology that enables the main body to maintain the desired angle regardless of floor slope or unevenness. Roh responded with a smile, saying, “I will get in touch.”

Shortly after Chairman Chung and President Roh visited the LG exhibition hall, LG Electronics CEO Ryu Jae-cheol also visited Hyundai’s booth. CEO Ryu closely examined the humanoid “Atlas,” the quadruped robot “Spot,” and MobED. The two companies have continued cooperation in areas such as automotive infotainment systems, displays, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and software-defined vehicles (SDVs).

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group is reportedly planning to hold its annual Global Leaders Forum (GLF) event this year in Las Vegas. For this, about 130 Hyundai Motor Group executives arrived in the United States on the 5th.

CES 2026 officially opened at 10:00 a.m. on this day, with exhibition halls opened to the general public. Even before the opening time, hundreds of people were waiting to enter at the entrance of the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC). As 10:00 a.m. approached, they began a 10-second countdown and then entered the venue with cheers once the doors opened.

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