Hyundai increases its hydrogen push with successor to ix35 Fuel Cell, although it's holding back on revealing the name of the new FCEV
Hyundai has revealed its next hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) ahead of its planned debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) later this month.
The SUV, details of which have not yet been released, draws heavily from the FE Fuel Cell Concept shown at the Geneva motor show last year.
That car had a range of 497 miles, with a power density 30% higher than that of Hyundai's previous FCEV, the ix35 Fuel Cell.
Another advancement over the ix35 Fuel Cell is the technology on board the new car - Hyundai claims that advanced driver assistance systems will feature, although it stopped short of announcing exactly what.
It's likely to be a semi-autonomous system akin to the Volkswagen Group's Traffic Jam Assist, in which the car controls its acceleration, braking and steering below certain speeds in certain environments.
The new car will be Hyundai's first in the testing of fully autonomous systems, because its powertrain is ideal for coping with the high energy demand of autonomous systems – their data handling, communication and sensors – and it has a long range.
The unveiling of the model comes shortly after Hyundai's announcement that its first fully autonomous car will arrive in 2021, as the result of the brand's partnership with self-driving technology company Aurora.
Aurora will assist Hyundai in bringing the two brands' technologies to market as quickly and safely as possible, with Level 4 autonomy targeted. Work on the back-end development of the technologies has already begun.
At last year's CES, Hyundai showcased the Ioniq Autonomous, the first tangible product in its push for driverless motoring.
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