Self-Driving Hyundai IONIQ with Hidden LiDAR Revealed at Los Angeles Auto Show

Sci-fi dreams around the luxury of hands-free driving are brought to reality with the Autonomous #IONIQ Concept. #AutoMobilityLA pic.twitter.com/7igiM3k049

— Hyundai USA (@Hyundai) November 16, 2016

Your dreams of a self-driving car all began with Knight Rider. When you were a kid, you longed for a sleek, stylish vehicle with a dry sense of humor and the ability to drive all on its own. The reality of self-driving cars has been a little slow, by comparison.

Most self-driving vehicles are only able to navigate by using spinning LiDAR detectors, typically mounted to the vehicle roof. Far from a sleek ride to look cool in wearing a leather jacket, they were more dorky science-fair projects.

Until now.

Hyundai revealed a fourth IONIQ model to accompany the hybrid, plug-in, and electric variants: the Autonomous IONIQ.

"The goal of the autonomous IONIQ concept was to keep the self-driving systems as simple as possible. This was accomplished by using the production car’s Smart Cruise Control’s forward-facing radar, Lane Keep Assist cameras and integrated them with LiDAR technology. Hyundai Motor is also developing its own autonomous vehicle operating system, with the goal of using a lot less computing power. This will result in a low-cost platform, which can be installed in future Hyundai models the average consumer can afford."

The Autonomous IONIQ is currently being tested in urban environments. Until this concept is available to the public, you can still enjoy advanced semi-autonomous features designed to make driving less stressful, and prevent accidents, available in most new Hyundai vehicles in Annapolis.