Tesla Motors, an American electric vehicles manufacturer, picked South Korea’s auto part company Mando Corp. as a partner to develop a core technology for self-driving cars. According to sources from the auto industry on Sunday, Mando has been chosen to jointly design ‘fail-safe’ systems that allow a back-up system to be activated in case of a specific failure or emergency. Mando was favored over other contestants including Bosch, Continental AG and TRW.

Mando has been developing fail-safe systems with Tesla since the latter half of last year. The system covers almost every part of a car including steering, brake, suspension and sensors, and acts pivotal in winning certification for an automated vehicle to be allowed on the road.

Mando has reportedly hired 90 high-skilled engineers from the US and Germany, and recruited eight executive-level engineers from global auto part companies like Bosch and Continental for the development of self-driving technologies.

The global auto industry sees that the transition to fully autonomous cars would happen in 4 stages. Stage 2 is where we are today, in which cars can automatically drive at a designated speed for a short period of time while keeping lane and safe distance from the car ahead. Stage 3, semi-autonomous cars are expected to be available by 2020 where drivers can keep their hands off the steering wheel almost entirely and rarely need to take back control. Stage 4 is a fully autonomous driving that doesn’t require a driver to be behind the wheel at all. Mando will be partnering with Tesla to develop semi- and fully driverless cars.

The Korea’s biggest auto part company that recorded sales of 5.2 trillion won ($4.39 billion) last year, is now looking to acquire promising startups with self-driving technology and software, according to the sources.

By Chun Beom-joo

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