Hyundai and Kia exhibit new technologies developed with global start-ups

Hyundai Motor and Kia held the '2022 Open Innovation Lounge' at their headquarters in Yangjae-dong on November 7-11 to demonstrate new technologies with promising domestic and foreign start-ups.

The Open Innovation Lounge essentially is an open innovative product development platform launched in 2019 to create a creative and flexible product and new technology development culture, and to quickly apply the technological experience that customers want in vehicles through technical cooperation with external start-ups.

At this year's event, under the slogan of 'Building Future Together', 13 collaborative results with start-ups and 150 future technology scenarios imagined by Hyundai Motor and Kia were exhibited

This year, Hyundai and Kia evaluated about 200 global start-ups based on customer satisfaction, feasibility and technology innovativeness. In the final round, two Korean teams were selected along with 7 teams from North America, 3 teams from Europe, and one from Israel.

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia supported the selected start-ups with expenses and vehicles so that they could fully realise their ideas. Each start-up participated in the event by producing local technologies and ideas as actual vehicles or mock-ups.

The technologies implemented by start-ups were exhibited in three areas:
- PoC (Proof of Concept) zone
- Partners zone, and
- Advanced Development zone.

Proof of Concept Zone
The 'PoC Zone' had a sound solution that recognises only the driver's voice by removing ambient noise. There was also an artificial intelligence (AI) system that recognizes emotions by analysing the user's facial expression or gaze and biosensors that can analyse various types of odours. Technologies that provide personalised experiences such as digital olfactory solutions and radar sensors that measure biorhythms by detecting the heartbeat and respiration of passengers were also on display.

The 2022 Open Innovation Lounge also had eco-friendly material production technology of wood-like shape and material by mixing resin and fibre. Plus, technology that creates holograms in the air with special glass and sensors, and 3D stereophonic sound realisation technology using AI.

A drone take-off from moving vehicles and retrieval system in a moving vehicle drew lot of attention. It has use for delivery of goods to places where vehicles cannot enter and could delivery of on-site information in case of an emergency. The strength of this innovation is that it can fly and retrieve drones while the vehicle is running through precise control, and when combined with autonomous vehicle technology, the convenience is expected to be further maximised.

The event saw also aerial hologram technology being presented. This technology creates holograms in the second row of the vehicle to enable immersive media content viewing.

Partners Zone
This newly established zone had new technologies that have been verified before the development of prototypes in collaboration with Hyundai Motor America's Technology Research Center (HATCI) and partner SL.

There was an ultra-small ultrasonic sensor that changes any material to be able to recognize touch, a micro-proximity sensor with high accuracy using new materials, a transparent light source that allows for more freedom in design, and conductive paint that can generate heat even with a small amount of current.

Advanced Development Zone
Hyundai and Kia shared the improved development results of solar film that can be applied to the exterior of the vehicle in various areas. After receiving positive evaluations from employees through the Open Innovation Lounge in 2021, the technology is being developed through internal discussions.

Hyundai Motor and Kia plan to “quickly go through the open innovation process for technologies that have been highly evaluated in customer preference and need among the technologies exhibited this year, and then review whether they will be applied to actual vehicles.”

Meanwhile, the two automakers are working with open innovation centres – Hyundai CRADLE (North America, Europe, China, Israel, Singapore) and Zero One (ZER01NE, Korea) – to conduct a demonstration project to review the technology scenarios of more than 1,000 innovative global start-ups. They are also expanding technological collaboration to apply some of these to actual vehicles.

Je-young Kim, Head of Product Division at Hyundai Motor & Kia, said, “With the know-how of the past four years, we are strengthening the product development system for the preceding stage, such as establishing a new pre-verification collaboration system with specialized technology companies this year. With the goal of becoming a leading company, we will continue to challenge new ways through the Open Innovation Lounge with global start-ups.”