Connected services hit milestone
Hyundai Motor Group has surpassed 10 million connected car service subscribers.
The milestone comes almost two years after reaching five million subscribers in August 2021 with this rapid growth supporting the acceleration of the company’s software-defined vehicle (SDV) strategy.
Connected car services utilise wireless networks to enable infotainment systems and smartphone applications that provide users with convenient access to their vehicles.
These services have evolved beyond the basics, such as real-time navigation, voice recognition and remote vehicle control to include innovative services through the likes of over-the-air (OTA) updates, in-car payments and audio/video streaming.
Hyundai Motor, Kia and Genesis currently operate Bluelink, Kia Connect and Genesis Connected services.
“Our goal is to accelerate the transition to the SDV era by focusing on software technologies that seamlessly connect all journeys,” says Hae-Young Kwon, vice-president of the infotainment development centre at Hyundai Motor Group.
“We will expand the ecosystem to provide more personalised mobility services for our customers.”
The group introduced the first connected car services in South Korea in 2003 and has since expanded them to the global market.
Overseas, the services were first launched in the US in June 2011. They have since expanded to China, Europe, India and most recently Singapore to reach customers in more than 50 countries.
Global subscribers topped one million in May 2018 with the eight-million milestone hit in October 2022. As the global market for the services expands, the number of overseas subscribers is growing faster than in South Korea.
With this growth trend, the group expects to reach 20 million subscribers worldwide, including its domestic market, by the end of 2026.
In the future, it plans to consider expanding its connected car services to markets in south-east Asia by strengthening partnerships with major global providers to further develop innovative services that meet customers’ diverse needs.
In addition, these services are expected to be further enhanced in-line with the group’s transition to SDV systems.
It unveiled its SDV vision and strategy at the Unlock The Software Age event in October 2022, and announced that it will start making OTA software updates available on all future models.
Based on a domain-centralised architecture, Hyundai Motor Group is integrating vehicle controllers in four domains, including electronics and convenience, driving performance, infotainment and advanced driver-assistance systems. It is expected to eventually evolve into a centralised architecture for unified control.
The group is also developing software and related devices from a holistic user-experience perspective whereby mobility devices connect with services to create an “ecosystem” in which “rich mobility data and AI technologies understand user intent so all experiences are connected”.
