Hyundai Motor Group, the owner of the Kia and Hyundai brands, announced this morning a new strategic direction called Software Defined Vehicle (SDV). The company is developing a brand new operating system for a completely rethought logic of OTA (Over-the-air) connected cars, and is preparing to have 20 million cars connected to its central system, Connected Car Services (CCS), by 2025.
The company believes it is essential that its cars are kept up to date and up to date. To achieve this, the cars' safety, convenience, connectivity, data security and powertrain-related functions must be OTA-updatable. Relying on the next generation EV platform, integrated controllers and the in-house developed Connected Car Operating System (ccOS), all cars produced by the Group will be able to receive OTA updates from 2025 at the latest. This will be true not only for pure electric cars but also for cars with other powertrains and some of the cars produced in the past, but from 2023 all newly announced models will have this capability. The data platform created by the connected systems will enable the provision of innovative services in collaboration with other players in the logistics and hospitality industry. From next year, the Group will also be able to offer extra services through the Feature on Demand (FoD) system, giving motorists even more freedom and more options to personalise their cars.
Hyundai Motor Group will also introduce two new electric car platforms, eM and eS, in the coming years. Both will be based on the Integrated Modular Architecture (IMA) and the first cars are expected from 2025. eM, a platform designed specifically for electric cars, will be usable in all segments and will offer 50% more range and triple self-driving compared to current electric cars. The eS platform will provide a skid-steer chassis for electric vehicles built for specific tasks, on which vehicles can be built to meet the needs of business customers. As both platforms are based on IMA, it will be possible to standardise and modularise key components such as motors and batteries.
The new architectures will also allow the integration of control units, so that they can be upgraded more efficiently and easily in the future. This will allow the company to respond more easily to the different needs of different users or regions. The infotainment and ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) systems will be the first to benefit from the new technology following a major upgrade.
