CES 2024 Hyundai Motor accelerates transition into software, energy solutions provider

Three executives from Hyundai Motor Group speak during a media interview on the sidelines of this year’s CES tech show in Las Vegas, Tuesday (local time). From left are Yoo Ji-han, senior vice president at Hyundai Motor Group’s Autonomous Driving Center; Lee Sang-yup, head of Hyundai Motor and Genesis Design Center; and Kim Chang-hwan, head of battery development and hydrogen and fuel cell development at Hyundai Motor and Kia. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor

 

LAS VEGAS — Hyundai Motor Group is standing at a critical juncture for its transition into a software and clean energy solutions provider, which is seen by its top executives as a time-consuming yet inevitable task to survive in the hyper-competitive industry, they said Tuesday (local time) in a media interview on the sidelines of this year’s CES tech show.

The company unveiled this vision during the world’s largest IT exhibition, as cars were nowhere to be seen at Hyundai Motor’s CES booth. The carmaker, instead, set up a more futuristic one highlighting its hydrogen energy value chain and the next big moves to incorporate software into its vehicles.

Executives in charge of the carmaker’s design and R&D also repeated the same message during the recent interview.

“Our research facility served as a role of an auto developer in the past, but now is placing its focus on the transition into a smart mobility solution provider,” Lee Sang-yup, head of Hyundai Motor and Genesis Design Center, told reporters. “This is based on software-driven experiences, including ones for hardware.”

Hyundai Motor Group is undoubtedly the most aggressive auto player during the CES 2024, delivering its multi-faceted vision for future mobility encompassing vehicles on the road and even in the air. This is shown in a recent announcement by Supernal, an advanced air mobility arm of the group, which unveiled a concept model for its latest S-A2 passenger aircraft during the tech fair.

“The S-A2 has a concept expanding conventional 2D mobility experiences to the 3D,” he said. “Now is the time for Hyundai Motor Group to solidify its position in the direction.”

But the company still has a lot to do for the transition, said Yoo Ji-han, senior vice president at Hyundai Motor Group’s Autonomous Driving Center.

“We still have to garner more efforts to become a leading auto player in terms of software, but receive favorable feedback from a number of our parts suppliers and startups in the United States and Europe, many of which call Hyundai Motor ‘most innovative’ among existing automakers from the perspective of software,” he said. “But this does not mean that we are the top software player within the auto industry.”

The executive said the company will keep making more investment to inject more innovative mindset from tech startups, as part of its ongoing journey to become the world’s top-level software-driven mobility solutions provider.

Visitors to Hyundai Motor’s booth during the CES 2024 take a look at the carmaker’s exhibition on its hydrogen energy value chain. Courtesy of Hyundai Motor

Kim Chang-hwan, head of battery development and hydrogen and fuel cell development at Hyundai Motor and Kia, also shared the group’s future technology direction represented by a clean hydrogen energy solution provider.

Hyundai Motor announced Monday its plan to build a hydrogen energy value chain by engaging in full processes from its production to transportation.

“We have a strategy of starting from our best technology, sophisticating our prowess there and maximizing synergies with our affiliates,” Kim said. “We used to call ourselves a mobility solutions provider, but now are moving to become a clean hydrogen energy solutions provider.”