Story by Randy Peregrino
Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) recently announced a new global strategy to transform all vehicles into Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs) by 2025. The industry-leading initiative was presented during the recently concluded “Unlock the Software Age” global online forum. This will deliver an unprecedented era of mobility, as it would give customers the freedom to remotely upgrade the performance and functionality of their vehicles anywhere at any time.
The Korean automaker also shared plans to transform the customer experience throughout the vehicle’s entire lifetime and deliver a new era of mobility via constantly evolving software technology.
HMG’s constantly evolving mobility and software technology will ensure that all models, including those already purchased, remain up to date. It will enable vehicle functions, including safety, convenience, connectivity, security, and driving performance, to be upgraded via Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates. Based on the Group’s next-generation electric vehicle (EV) platform, integrated controller, and an internally developed Connected Car Operating System (ccOS), all Group vehicles will be equipped to receive OTA software updates by 2025.
The company expects 20 million vehicles to be registered to its connected car service worldwide by 2025. Connected vehicles equipped with cutting-edge telecommunication features will create unprecedented value and possibilities and provide customers with personalized services, such as software subscriptions.
Furthermore, connected car data will network with future company mobility solutions, including Purpose Built Vehicles (PBVs), Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), robotaxis, and robots. Establishing a new data platform will provide innovative services by connecting and processing the various data generated throughout the car life cycle and promoting the creation of an open ecosystem in partnership with diverse industries such as logistics and accommodation.
HMG will also invest heavily in software technology to integrate hardware and software technologies and enhance and internalize mobility technology capabilities. By 2030, the company plans to invest 18 trillion Won in resources, including establishing a new Global Software Center to bolster its software capabilities and accelerate Software Defined Vehicle development.
“By transforming all vehicles to Software Defined Vehicles by 2025, Hyundai Motor Group will completely redefine the concept of the automobile and take the lead in ushering in a never-before-experienced era of mobility,” said Chung Kook Park, President and Head of R&D Division, Hyundai Motor Group. “Creating visionary vehicles empowered with the ability to evolve through software will enable customers to keep their vehicles up to date with the latest features and technology long after they have left the factory.”
OTA software updates for all HMG models by 2025
From 2023, all newly launched vehicles of HMG will be equipped to receive OTA software updates, enabling customers to keep their vehicles up to date. This transformation will apply not just to electric models but also to internal combustion engine vehicles. All of the Group’s vehicle segments sold worldwide will evolve to be software-defined by 2025.
Customers can remotely upgrade the performance and functionality of their vehicles anywhere at any time without needing to take them to a service center. Its residual value will also be enhanced if it can constantly update the vehicle. The Group initially introduced this service in 2021, and from 2023 will expand it across vehicle models in global market regions able to receive Connected Car Services (CCS). By 2025 all HMG vehicles will receive OTA software updates.
The company will also offer FoD (Feature on Demand) services next year. It will give customers the ability to select and purchase functions and features that meet their needs and tastes and the freedom to create vehicles that best match their lifestyles.
The vast amount of data generated by the 20 million subscribed vehicles to the Group’s CCS will provide the basis for the further development of personalized services. HMG plans to continuously offer customized services to enhance individual customer requirements and handle big vehicle data quickly and ultra-reliably.
Next-gen EV platform to accelerate SDV transformation
HMG plans to significantly reduce the time required for all mass-production processes, including planning, design, and manufacturing, by developing a shared hardware and software platform for vehicles. It will enable vehicle components to be shared across different vehicle segments, leading to more efficient vehicle development and significant cost reductions. Reducing vehicle complexity will further enhance the effectiveness of SDV technology.
Constantly upgradeable vehicle software will bolster HMG’s ability to secure diverse and stable revenue streams by providing fresh vehicle features and functionality and leveraging selected data to offer personalized services for each customer. It will also improve the Group’s profitability by shortening vehicle development time and reducing costs through platform standardization.
HMG will also introduce vehicles in 2025 based on its two new EV platforms, eM and eS. The new EV platforms will be created under the Group’s Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA) system.
The eM platform is being developed specifically for EVs across all segments and will provide a 50% improvement in driving range on a single charge compared to current EVs. The eM platform is also being developed to support Level 3 or higher autonomous driving technology and OTA software update features.
HMG’s eS platform will be developed as an EV “skateboard” exclusively for PBVs, with a fully flexible structure to meet business-to-business (B2B) demands and provide tailor-made solutions for companies operating in the delivery, logistics, and car-hailing sectors.
“In 2025, HMG will present vehicles with two platform types: eM, a passenger EV-dedicated platform; and eS, an exclusive platform for PBVs,” said Paul Choo, executive vice president and head of Electronics & Infotainment Development Center of HMG. “These new platforms are evolving under HMG’s IMA, which will lead to further standardization and modularization of core components of EVs, such as batteries and motors, while offering advantages in sectors additional to EVs.”
HMG’s IMA will facilitate the standardization and modularization of key EV components. By standardizing the batteries and electric motors, for example, which currently vary across each EV model, the company will flexibly apply standard components to each vehicle, thus efficiently expanding its lineup.
HMG is also similarly integrating the vehicle controller. Previously, the software system needed to be upgraded separately for each controller to upgrade the functions of vehicles. However, an integrated controller delivers a solution to make this process more systematic and efficient. Thus, the overall number of controllers can be significantly reduced by integrating the lower-level electrical components managed by top-level controllers.
The integrated controller will enable the efficient development of diverse vehicle segments and strategic models optimized for each region and ease the process of adding new features and improving performance. The cycle of software updates will be shortened, whereas the frequency will increase. The technology also enables HMG to respond flexibly and swiftly to meet rapidly changing market and customer needs.
The infotainment and Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) that the company already mass-produced are undergoing function advancements with the introduction of the latest integrated controller technology. By 2025, both comfort and driving controllers will also be gradually integrated.
“The electrical and electronic architecture can be thought of as an organically connected structure that improves the function of a vehicle’s electrical device components,” said Hyung Ki Ahn, vice president of Electronics Development Group. “To develop the growing number of electrical components with systematic efficiency, HMG chose to implement ‘domain centralized architecture,’ which structures groups and integrates controllers throughout the vehicle into four areas: Comfort, driving, infotainment, and ADAS. As this architecture significantly reduces development complexity and enables software updates to be carried out effortlessly without any requirement to modify the controller manually, it is ideal for presenting a variety of vehicle segments and region-specific models tailored to different countries. It also enables us to respond flexibly to consumers’ wants in this fast-changing market.”
Groundbreaking ccOS
HMG’s highly innovative, internally developed ccOS will prove key to the company’s ambition to take the lead in providing transformative global mobility solutions. The ccOS software platform can be applied to all controllers and maximize hardware performance through extremely high computing power.
High-performance information processing semiconductors are required to efficiently collect and process the large amount of information generated by connected cars. Hence, the company is working with Nvidia, a leader in artificial intelligence (AI) computing, collaborating on loading an optimized ccOS onto Nvidia Drive, a high-performance information processing semiconductor.
Nvidia provides world-leading technological strengths in AI, machine learning, graphics cognition, and processing. The company’s high-performance Nvidia Drive platform enables large-scale data computation processing at an ultra-fast pace. HMG signed a technology development agreement with Nvidia in 2015 and is researching applying connected car technology to commercialized mass-produced vehicles.
Based on its integrated controllers and internal software platform, the Group is also significantly strengthening its competitiveness in autonomous driving technology.
HMG’s advanced ccOS operating system will support the software technology required to analyze and process data ultra-rapidly, provided by the vast data collection capabilities of technology such as the sensors within the cameras, radars, and LiDARs mounted on the vehicle.
“This year, the Group will apply an advanced Highway Driving Pilot (HDP) on the Genesis G90, which is a Level 3 technology for autonomous driving based on the second-generation integrated controller,” said Woongjun Jang, senior vice president and head of the Autonomous Driving Center of HMG. “The Group is also developing its Remote Parking Pilot (RPP) for Level 3 autonomous driving.”
HMG is developing a third-generation integrated controller based on the next-generation high-performance semiconductor to advance autonomous driving technology. The new integrated controller will enable even faster computation and more efficient control by installing a higher-performance CPU and increasing the integration between controllers compared to the currently commercialized second-generation integrated controller.
The third-generation integrated controller will become the basis for HMG’s expansion of mass-producing autonomous driving Level 3 vehicles and the commercialization of Level 4 and Level 5 autonomous driving levels in due course. It is also being developed to deliver improved heat dissipation, lower noise levels, and reduced production costs.”
HMG is also building a new data platform that can combine and process data generated throughout the vehicle’s life cycle, including manufacturing, production, and operation, which will be used to create a broad range of innovative services.
“HMG’s data platform will not only be simply for driving. It will also play an important role in enhancing the convenience and diversity of the customer’s mobility experience by engaging throughout the vehicle’s entire life cycle,” said Eunsook Jin, executive vice president and head of the ICT Innovation Division of HMG. “Going forward, we’ll also help create a new mobility ecosystem, connecting cars with other mobility devices based on data connectivity and scalability.”
HMG’s data platform will focus on technology capable of identifying how data at each stage of the vehicle’s life cycle is generated and selectively collecting and analyzing the data required to provide valuable services to customers. Data collated through the vehicle’s high-performance controller will be continuously processed and diagnosed with deep learning technology to ensure optimum speed and efficiency.
To this end, the company is steadily strengthening its staffing and resource capabilities to enable it to create valuable information and services by quickly and stably processing large amounts of data. In addition to thousands of connected cars worldwide, data will be harvested from multiple additional sources, such as traffic signals, infrastructure, and satellite navigation mapping. In addition, the company plans to contribute to creating a new mobility system by connecting various future mobility devices based on data connectivity and scalability.
Combining hardware and software technologies will enable HMG to improve and internalize mobility technology capabilities and reinforce the Group’s determination to take the lead in the future of mobility.
Future mobility
HMG foresees a future where the mobility industry paradigm is entirely transformed, enabling people to enjoy convenient, seamless travel, even if they don’t own a car. The company’s mid-to-long-term strategy will accommodate a new dimension of mobility service. The software will be the core technology that delivers this future by seamlessly connecting new mobility devices and services.
“By ‘movement,’ we mean more than just moving between locations. We’re talking about the entire end-to-end journey, from leaving your house and meeting friends to things like charging, shopping, eating, and finally returning home,” explained Chang Song, president and head of the Transportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) division of HMG. “Software-defined mobility will provide a holistic user experience based on vast mobility data and AI technology that understands user intentions and context. This way, all these journeys can be seamlessly connected.”
To ensure it continues to lead in the provision of mobility solutions, HMG will establish a Global Software Center to preemptively respond to changes in the future mobility market from a long-term perspective. The new Global Software Center will develop software-defined mobility devices and solutions, surpassing the vehicle market to enter the mobility and logistics market. It will also establish a system for self-developed mobility devices to connect to smartphone ecosystems while developing technologies and businesses that can connect and control mobility devices under one urban OS and make autonomous driving possible.
HMG will invest 18 trillion won by 2030 in sectors such as the Global Software Center and R&D headquarters to strengthen software capabilities for SDV development further. The Group will also hire some of the world’s best software developers and develop devices and services that prioritize the user experience (UX) to bring new experiences to the mobility market.
“Today, HMG has revealed the technology concepts, strategies, and future scenarios related to SDVs that will underpin the core of future mobility,” said Chung Kook Park, president and head of the R&D division. “Our holistic approach will empower HMG to lead the transformation in the mobility paradigm. As we take these technological innovations from imagination to reality, HMG will unlock the future potential of the car and open up new possibilities to rewrite the customer experience and deliver a new way of life, abundant with meaning and value.”
As the company embarks on a new challenge to transform mobility and meet the needs of customers in the future, it will continue to develop its award-winning models to meet customers’ needs today. The appeal of the company’s customer offerings has been consistently affirmed, as demonstrated recently by the range of awards bestowed on EV models from the Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands by critics and media across the globe.
HMG’s cutting-edge SDV technologies, such as infotainment, connectivity, and ADAS, are becoming highly popular with customers. As technology rapidly develops, a new world of possibilities will open up. It will place the company at the forefront of providing entirely new mobility solutions as society changes, transportation means evolve, and software-defined vehicles become commonplace.