Hyundai Motor Group’s connected car services now have an impressive 10 million global subscribers through the Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands.
The conglomerate’s connected car services, known as Hyundai Bluelink, Kia Connect, and Genesis Connected Services, encompass a wide array of features from real-time navigation to remote vehicle control, over-the-air updates, in-car payments, and audio/video streaming. Hyundai’s first connected car services were launched in Korea some 20 years ago, in 2003, before launching in overseas markets, including the U.S., in 2011.
It took the carmaker until May 2018 before it reached the first 1 million subscribers. It then hit 5 million subscribers in August 2021, 8 million in October 2022, and 10 million as of June 2022. Hyundai believes it will hit 20 million global subscribers by the end of 2026. To help achieve this, it is considering the expansion of connected car services to markets in South East Asia.
Read: Hyundai And Kia Lead New Consortium To Develop Advanced Software Defined Vehicles
Additionally, the Hyundai Motor Group has grand plans for software-defined vehicle (SDV) systems and will soon start making OTA software updates available on all of its future models. It will also integrate vehicle controllers into the four domains of electronics and convenience, driving performance, infotainment, and advanced driver assistance systems.
The Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation signed a multilateral Memorandum of Understanding with 17 auto-industry companies in April for its SDV plans. The consortium will also develop technology that can verify algorithms through virtual simulation to shorten development time, rather than control software having to be implemented into the hardware for it to be verified and improved.
“Our goal is to accelerate the transition to the SDV era by focusing on software technologies that seamlessly connect all journeys,” the vice president of the Infotainment Development Center at Hyundai Motor Group, Hae-Young Kwon, said. “We will expand the ecosystem to provide more personalized mobility services for our customers.”
