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| In this photo provided by Hyundai Motor Group, the company's designers and engineers display how the new VR design evaluation system is used to assess design quality of the all-new Sonata. / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Hyundai Motor Group unveiled a new virtual reality (VR) design evaluation system to respond promptly to the rapidly changing mobility landscape, the company said Wednesday.
The automaker's new VR design evaluation system improves design quality and efficiency, the automaker said. It enables 20 individuals to simultaneously participate in design development, including design quality assessments and verification processes.
VR headsets allow vehicle designers and engineers to virtually enter developmental simulations, with 36 motion tracking sensors detecting and tracking the locations and movement of all users.
VR design quality verification processes can accelerate developing safety technologies, as engineers can virtually test vehicles in a variety of simulated environments like highways, urban roadways, hills, tunnels, and low-light conditions.
Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors also utilizes three-dimensional Computer Aided Design (CAD) data collected from every stage of the vehicle development process to assess the quality of each design in virtual environments.
The new system simulates interior and exterior design elements, lighting, colors and materials, and even virtual environments.
The new technology comes after the automaker announced in March it will invest 15 billion won ($12.8 million) in the Namyang Research and Development (R&D) Center.
By implementing the virtual development processes throughout R&D and pre-production stages, the company anticipates reducing vehicle development times by 20 percent and annual development costs by 15 percent.
The VR technology is also expected to increase profitability and trigger a cycle of continuously increasing R&D investment for Hyundai and Kia.
"The virtual development process is a necessary step for responding quickly and reacting with agility to the needs of customers and paradigm shifts within the automotive industry," said Albert Biermann, head of R&D division at Hyundai Motor Group.
"Through reinforced virtual processes, we will enhance quality and profitability, ultimately increasing investment in R&D to secure competitiveness in future mobility."
Hyundai Motor Group will also introduce virtual development processes into product planning and manufacturing to respond to future mobility demands and that reaffirms its reputation for customer focus.
It will further apply VR design evaluation systems in the development of future mobility solutions, such as high-level autonomous driving.
Hyundai first used this system during the design assessment stages of the HDC-6 NEPTUNE Concept Class 8 heavy-duty truck, first revealed at the North American Commercial Vehicle Show in October 2019.
Kia also plans to expand the design assessment capabilities of the facility for developmental use on future models.
