Hyundai adds to Aurora Innovation's latest funding round

Hyundai Motor Group will invest an undisclosed amount of money in self-driving tech company Aurora Innovation, the companies said Wednesday.

The funding deepens the relationship between the Korean automaker and Silicon Valley startup, and they will work together to develop autonomous driving systems for use in Hyundai and Kia vehicles.

Terms were undisclosed. But Aurora said the funding deal would increase its ongoing Series B financing round to "more than $600 million." Previously, the company had said the round had reached $530 million, which includes an investment from Amazon.

Hyundai and Aurora have been collaborating on self-driving vehicles since 2018, starting with plans to deploy the systems, called the Aurora Driver, on Nexo, Hyundai's fuel cell vehicle. This marks Hyundai's first financial investment in the company.

Hyundai says it intends to commercialize autonomous technology in robotaxi fleets in select global cities starting in 2021. The Aurora Driver is intended for Level 4 self-driving operations -- those requiring no role for humans in driving or oversight, which can operate in specific conditions.

Aurora co-founder Sterling Anderson said he was "pleased with the progress" the two companies have made in developing the technology.

Wednesday's funding announcement marked the latest development in a topsy-turvy week for the self-driving startup.

On Monday, Aurora said it had entered into a partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to explore possibilities of installing the Aurora Driver on Ram and Fiat Professional brand vehicle lines, with Ram receiving the initial focus.

One day later, Volkswagen Group said a partnership with Aurora, announced to much fanfare in January 2018 at CES, had "concluded." Aurora confirmed the end of the partnership.

Work between Aurora and Chinese EV company Byton remains ongoing, both companies said Wednesday.

"Byton and Aurora continue their relationship to ensure that autonomous driving functionality is available on future models," a Byton spokesperson said. "We continue to have a close relationship with Aurora as well as open discussions with other leading-edge companies in the field, in the U.S. and China."