Hyundai Motor Group Unveils 'Innovative Technologies' Developed in Collaboration with Global Startups

'2020 Open Innovation Lounge' Held

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Hyundai Motor Group announced on the 19th that it held the '2020 Open Innovation Lounge' at the Hyundai-Kia Motors headquarters on the 16th and 17th to demonstrate new technologies from promising domestic and international startups.

The Open Innovation Lounge is Hyundai Motor Group's open innovation platform designed to foster a culture of creative product and new technology development and to rapidly commercialize technologies desired by customers through technological collaboration with external startups.

Since last year, Hyundai Motor Group has been activating the Open Innovation Lounge by discovering technologies and ideas from over 300 startups through its Open Innovation Centers, Hyundai Cradle (North America, Europe, China, Israel) and Zero One (Seoul). In particular, Hyundai Motor Group has established various platforms to secure innovative technologies, including discovering key startups at global hubs through Hyundai Cradle and the Zero One contest, which allows startups to participate freely every quarter, thereby beginning collaborations with startups.

Through this Open Innovation Lounge, out of more than 300 global startups, 11 teams were finally selected based on three main criteria: product customer satisfaction, feasibility of technology implementation, and technological originality. The selected teams included 4 from Korea, 4 from North America, 1 from Europe, 1 from China, and 1 from Israel. Hyundai Motor Group supported the selected startups with all costs for physical production necessary for technology implementation and vehicles. Each startup implemented their respective technologies and ideas in actual vehicles over a period of approximately 3 to 10 months locally and participated in the event.

The technologies implemented by the participating startups were exhibited under three main themes: vehicle convenience, entertainment, and safety and hygiene. Specifically, in the vehicle convenience category, the exhibits included ‘Smart Glass,’ which bonds a color-changing variable film between car windows to adjust transparency; ‘Smart Mirror,’ which can display advertising images on the rear window; ‘Automatic Cleaning Technology,’ which removes liquids by vibrating the glass surface; ‘New Material Fibers’ capable of heating, lighting, and touch; and ‘Fatigue Reduction Seats,’ which change the center of gravity according to the driver's subtle movements to reduce fatigue.

In the vehicle entertainment category, exhibits included a ‘Personalized Sound System’ that provides physical vibrations and augmented sound per seat; ‘Vibrating Woofer Seats’ that allow enjoyment of sound with dynamic vibrations; ‘Touch Control Glass,’ which uses the vehicle’s side windows as touch displays; and ‘Touch HMI,’ which enables control of buttons made from various materials such as wood, iron, aluminum, and glass through touch. In the vehicle safety and hygiene category, technologies and ideas that enhance the product value of vehicles attracted attention, such as ‘Sterilization Lighting’ to strengthen interior hygiene and ‘Vehicle Interior Monitoring,’ which uses AI camera sensors to recognize driver emotions and prevent drowsy driving.

Hyundai Motor Group plans to rapidly apply the innovative technologies disclosed at this event that are feasible for commercialization from the customer perspective to actual vehicles through the group’s official open innovation process.

Thomas Schemera, Vice President and Head of Product Division at Hyundai-Kia Motors, said, “To respond to rapidly changing customer demands, it is important to provide products containing the new technologies they need in a timely manner,” and added, “We will actively collaborate with global startups through the Open Innovation Lounge platform to strengthen Hyundai Motor Group’s product competitiveness.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.