Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Win Three Awards Including Presidential Award at Korea Technology Awards

Wearable Robot "Exble Shoulder" Wins Minister’s Award
Oh Jonghan, Executive Director of Vehicle Control Development Center, Receives Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia have been recognized for their contributions to the advancement of industrial technology by winning three awards, including the Presidential Award, at the 2025 Korea Technology Awards.

On December 3, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia announced that they had received the Presidential Award, the Minister’s Award, and the Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit at the 2025 Korea Technology Awards held at COEX in Seoul.

Yonhap News Agency

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia received the highest honor, the Presidential Award, for their “innovative automotive steel parts manufacturing technology for carbon emission reduction.”

The Basic Materials Research Center at Hyundai Motor Company and Kia developed an innovative parts manufacturing technology that significantly reduces or eliminates the “heat treatment process,” which was previously an essential step in the production of special steel parts. The heat treatment process, which involves heating steel and then rapidly cooling it to increase hardness, is essential for ensuring the durability of parts, but it has long been considered a major source of carbon emissions in manufacturing.

By newly applying the “uniform hardening” technology, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia have greatly shortened the heat treatment time compared to conventional methods. Additionally, they developed a new process that increases the strength of parts through special processing and forming, allowing them to replace the heat treatment process while maintaining the same level of material properties as before.

If this technology is expanded to full-scale mass production, it is expected to reduce carbon emissions in chassis parts manufacturing processes by up to 70%.

In addition, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia’s wearable robot “Exble Shoulder,” launched this year, received the Minister’s Award, while Oh Jonghan, Executive Director of the Vehicle Control Development Center at Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, was awarded the Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit.

Executive Director Oh was recognized for developing the E-VMC (Electric Vehicle Motion Control) technology based on drive motors, which has greatly improved electric vehicle driving performance and emergency avoidance capabilities. He also secured technologies to prevent vehicle control errors, thereby contributing to enhanced safety for both drivers and pedestrians.

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia will showcase the three award-winning technologies from the Technology Awards at the 2025 Korea Tech Festival, which runs at COEX until December 5.

Previously, at the 2024 Korea Technology Awards, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia received the Presidential Award for their two-stage motor system for electric vehicles and high-speed motor technology. This EV motor drive technology, which simultaneously delivers powerful output and high efficiency, has been applied to Hyundai Motor Company and Kia electric vehicles starting with the EV6 GT.

Hong Seunghyun, Executive Director of the Basic Materials Research Center at Hyundai Motor Company and Kia, stated, “Winning the Presidential Award at the Korea Technology Awards is the result of collaboration among our group companies, parts suppliers, and materials companies to reduce carbon emissions. We will focus our capabilities on developing mobility technologies that can drastically reduce carbon emissions while maintaining excellent performance.”

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