Hyundai is running its startup talent search yet again. The ZERO1NE Accelerator aims to find exciting new companies whose technologies can be invested in and eventually utilized by the Hyundai Group.
The automaker is accepting applications for the entire month of July, after which they will be reviewed by the company. By August 23, Hyundai says it will be ready to interview the most promising startups and the final selection of the chosen collaborators will be announced on September 8.
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Startups can apply to have their technology used in one of 45 projects that the company is looking for help with. The projects are derived from Hyundai’s internal teams and cover areas like green technology, in-car UX (user experience), AI analytics, drones, and even less explicitly techy stuff like materials.
Applicants are also allowed to suggest a different project if their technology doesn’t quite line up with Hyundai’s internal teams, though the automaker wants them to remain on theme.
Indeed, Hyundai is already adept at working with startups and external businesses, having recently completed its purchase of Boston Dynamics, the robotics startup behind those viral two- and four-legged robots that are as impressive as they are deeply unsettling.
The wider industry has made a habit of buying into smaller startups, too, especially since electric and autonomous technologies have cropped up as areas of research. Honda is already partnering with AutoX for autonomous vehicle development and Toyota is partnering with Aurora for a similar purpose, to name just two.
Hyundai says that since it started running the ZERO1NE Accelerator in 2018, it has invested in 39 of the startups and worked with a total of 73 startups on different projects.
