The FINANCIAL — Hyundai Motor has announced a new partnership with web services company Baidu, which will see the car manufacturer become the first to equip its Chinese market vehicles with Baidu’s connected navigation MapAuto and Duer OS Auto voice recognition technologies.
The significant partnership is part of Hyundai Motor’s strategy to assert itself as a leader of automotive technology services in China.
Hyundai Motor revealed the plans to cooperate with Baidu at CES Asia in Shanghai (June 7-9). The Baidu CES booth features a Hyundai Santa Fe SUV to demonstrate the innovative features and user-friendly application of the ‘MapAuto’ navigation and ‘Duer OS Auto’ voice recognition services.
Woong-Chul Yang, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Company, said: “In the future, our cars will enhance the lives of our customers, creating new opportunities and presenting a wealth of new possibilities through connected technologies. We will continue to strengthen our partnership with Baidu to develop industry-leading cars that connect ever-more efficiently to our customers’ everyday lives.”
MapAuto will be introduced to Chinese drivers for the first time through Hyundai vehicles, as Hyundai Motor continues to meet the growing demands for connectivity services among Chinese drivers. MapAuto is a cloud-based connected system that can provide real-time traffic status, live information about the user’s end-destination – such as parking space availability – and on-the-go warning alerts for the road ahead, such as temporary speed limits, according to Hyundai.
Also an automotive industry first, Hyundai Motor will offer Baidu’s Duer OS Auto system in newly-introduced models from late this year. The interactive voice response service allows drivers and passengers to give spoken commands for functions such as navigation, weather, or infotainment services.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor and Baidu are also exploring the potential for joint efforts into developing more advanced smart home, voice recognition, AI, connected car and autonomous driving technologies.
Investing in big data and Open Innovation
Recognizing the significance of the Chinese market and anticipating its demand for the latest automotive connectivity services, Hyundai Motor will soon open a ‘big data’ hub in the Guian New Area – China’s national epicenter for big data.
The new facility will be Hyundai Motor’s first overseas strategic hub for big data analysis, boosting the company’s development of advanced connected cars and technologies. Located at the heart of the Guian New Area in Guizhou Province, Hyundai Motor’s new facility will ensure close collaboration with the region’s leading IT enterprises and start-up companies.
As Hyundai Motor pushes ahead with connected car technology enhancements, it is also developing its own advanced ccOS (connected car Operating System) – the core technology platform for its future connected cars. The highly sophisticated software will optimize the high-speed transmission and reception of data within each vehicle to support increasingly complex features that will lead the connected car market.
Advancing its ‘Open Innovation’ plan, Hyundai Motor’s relationship with the world’s leading IT companies, such as Baidu and Cisco, is an important step towards the company’s ‘Car to Life’ connected car vision where the car becomes integral to the daily life of the user.
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