UPDATE: Hyundai Motor confirms self-driving-car talks with Apple, shares skyrocket
By Mike Murphy
Shares of Hyundai Motor Co. soared more than 20% in Seoul trading Friday after the South Korean auto maker confirmed it was in talks with Apple Inc. to develop a self-driving electric car.
"Apple and Hyundai are in discussion, but as it is at early stage, nothing has been decided," Hyundai said in a statement.
That was enough to spark Hyundai's sharpest intraday trading gain since at least 1988.
The Korean news website Hankyung (https://www.hankyung.com/news/article/2021010802115) first reported the Apple news, saying Hyundai would manufacture the Apple-designed car as well as develop batteries for it.
Separately, Bloomberg News reported (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-07/apple-s-aapl-tesla-tsla-killer-won-t-ship-for-at-least-half-a-decade?sref=Oeyjq8by) Thursday that it will take Apple (AAPL) at least five years to develop an autonomous car. Bloomberg also reported that a number of former Tesla Inc. (TSLA) executives have been added to the project.
For years, Apple has been rumored to be working on a self-driving car, and has gone back and forth between developing its own car and just developing the technology (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-focusing-on-self-driving-technology-not-building-cars-report-2017-08-22) for one. Last Month, Reuters reported (https://www.marketwatch.com/story/apple-shares-rise-on-report-that-icar-could-emerge-in-2024-11608584812) Apple was again looking to develop a passenger car, with a target date of 2024.
Apple shares jumped more than 3% on Thursday, and are up 69% over the past year, compared to a 7% gain by the Dow Jones Industrial Average , of which it is a component, over the past 12 months.
-Mike Murphy; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 07, 2021 22:42 ET (03:42 GMT)
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