Hyundai gave a somewhat comprehensive overview of its intentions for software integration into its cars as well as its hydrogen development efforts when it first arrived at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show. They cover anything from vehicle-specific information to more detailed information, as well as energy generation.
Hydrogen
Hyundai focused on hydrogen research the most, and it appears committed to using the fuel as a primary source of renewable energy. With its HTWO brand, it will essentially combine “production, storage, transportation, and utilization”—get it?—all aspects of its hydrogen business. Hyundai will be concentrating heavily on the initial portions of those categories. In order to strengthen the demand side of the market, it is attempting to engage more businesses in off-take agreements (agreements to buy hydrogen). Hyundai itself wants to power its steel plants with hydrogen as well as produce energy in general.
Additionally, Hyundai’s HTWO is developing alternative processes to generate hydrogen from diverse waste on the production front. A portion of that is obtained by gasifying and melting waste plastics to extract different components, leaving hydrogen gas. Other portion is derived via the use of biogas from organic wastes like manure and food.
Next, Hyundai will keep deploying commercial trucks and associated infrastructure in terms of utilization. It is already using XCIENT fuel cell trucks to transport cargo to the Port of Oakland, and it plans to utilize more of these trucks in the massive electric vehicle plant it is established in Georgia in the future.
Software
Hyundai’s remarks regarding its software plans were even less specific. “SDx,” or software-defined everything, was the term used to describe its goal. Naturally, “SDV,” or software-defined vehicles, play a significant role in this. This also implies that Hyundai will be developing its own app store and offering development kits to individuals and businesses so they can create apps just for Hyundai cars. Why should Apple and Google get to keep all the fun associated with apps, data, and monetization?
Hyundai also intends to continue integrating voice assistant and navigation systems with large-language model AI. Additionally, it intends to provide fleet operators with new information tools. This development will help Hyundai achieve its objectives of offering driverless cars and various vehicle entry methods.