Ben Okri once said, “creativity is the art of the impossible.” Today, under a new name, we’re continuing to create what was once believed impossible.
It brings me immense pride and pleasure to introduce Motional to the world – a world we’ll improve by making driverless vehicles a safe, reliable, and accessible reality.
I’ve spent my career toggling between next-generation technology and the more traditional automotive industry, and Motional – a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv – exists at their intersection. That’s what makes Motional so uniquely powerful. It’s what will enable us to change how the world moves.
At Motional, we’re creating, shaping, and advancing driverless technology capable of saving lives, time, and money.
The world is ready for this technology, this change. COVID has made us realize that transportation decisions are personal decisions—emotional decisions. Perhaps due to this, recent survey data indicates that people are more open to the idea of driverless vehicles than ever before.
Seventy percent of Americans say the risk of COVID infection is a concern impacting their transportation decisions. An even larger fraction (83%) agree that access to safe, clean transportation is a public health issue. And nearly one in five (19%) Americans are now more interested in self-driving vehicles than they were before the pandemic.
It’s during this period of anxiety around transportation options that Motional will rise to provide safer, better mobility to the world.
As President and CEO, I couldn’t ask to be supported by a more capable, innovative, and driven group of individuals. You possess an embarrassment of talent, intellect, and vision. It’s due to your technological innovation and creative execution that we’ll all soon experience driverless vehicles.
And now, we must show the public that driverless vehicles are the safest, most trustworthy mobility option for our evolving cities. I eagerly accept this challenge. It’s only by winning the public’s trust and confidence that we’ll be successful.
Our journey begins now.
