Hyundai Motor Company has been recognized for its cutting-edge vehicle design at the world-renowned iF Design Award 2019 for the fifth straight year. The Palisade and Le Fil Rouge concept vehicle each won the Automobiles/Vehicles category at the eminent competition in the global automotive industry.
Hyundai’s record streak this year marks another milestone for the company, which continues to make strides in making premium cars affordable and available for customers worldwide. The award acknowledged Hyundai’s new flagship SUV, Palisade — a premium three-row sports utility vehicle debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show last year.
Palisade (above) features ground breaking capabilities and technologies for all-road driving, safety and speed. Its bold architecture, including both the interior and exterior, is also designed for maximum comfort, roominess and relaxation. Another winner went to Hyundai’s Le Fil Rouge concept car, debuted at the Geneva Motor Show 2018.
The Le Fil Rouge (below) embodies a reinterpretation of Hyundai’s sporty design spirit that was first featured in the 1974 Hyundai Coupe Concept. Exemplifying “sensuous sportiness,” the vehicle harmonizes the four fundamental design elements of proportion, architecture, styling and technology, and simultaneously combines beauty and function.
For more than 64 years, the iF Design Award has been recognized as a symbol of excellence by design professionals around the world. Organized by iF International Forum Design GmbH in Hanover — the world’s oldest independent design institution — the prestigious prize is bestowed upon top designers spanning various disciplines and categories. In 2019, companies from 50 countries participated in the event with 6,400 product submissions, which were judged by a jury of 67 international design experts.
Hyundai Motor has announced its customized i30 Fastback N will be the Official Safety Car of the 32nd season of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK). The i30 Fastback N safety car unveiled recently stands out with a livery derived from Hyundai’s i20 World Rally Championship (WRC) car. This activity is part of Hyundai’s new partnership with WorldSBK, announced in September of last year.
The i30 Fastback N Safety Car will make its public debut in Australia at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit from February 22 to 24. The full fleet of official cars will be released at Spain’s Motorland Aragón, which will take place on April 5 to 7. Hyundai’s fleet, ranging from the i30 N to the Kona and Tucson SUV models, will be used in various capacities such as providing race direction or transporting medical personnel.
Since the announcement of N brand at the Frankfurt Motorshow in 2015, Hyundai has taken part in numerous motorsport events, including the World Rally Championships, Nürburgring 24 Hours and WTCR. Not only has the N brand performed well in the highest intensity competitions, but it has also proved a success among adrenaline-seeking customers, with its production of the i30 N, Veloster N, and most recently, the i30 Fastback N. The Hyundai N brand delivers high-performance vehicles that are fun to drive, with everyday usability and track capability.
The i30 Fastback N, Hyundai’s third high-performance N vehicle, debuted at the Paris Motor Show in October 2018. It is the first five-door coupe in the C segment and unique in its class. With a combination of sophisticated, elegant design, exhilarating performance and fun-to-drive features, the i30 Fastback N is an everyday sports car that’s as thrilling on the road as it is on the racetrack. Equipped with signature N Corner Carving Differential for maximum feeling, the i30 Fastback N is the perfect vehicle to be driven both on and off the racetrack.
“Building the WorldSBK Safety Car has been a very interesting project for us. It is not a race car but will spend most of its life on the race track. Since the i30 Fastback N is born capable, we didn’t need to make many modifications for it to do its job. The i30 Fastback N Safety Car is the most elegant safety car yet it will safeguard the world’s fastest production-based motorbikes. It is a true display of its duality character,” said Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President and Head of the Product Planning & Strategy Division at Hyundai Motor.
The design of i30 Fastback N Safety Car is inspired by Hyundai Motorsport. The livery designs of Hyundai Motorsport feature a color scheme that includes Performance Blue, Active Red, darker Hyundai Blue, and new this season, black. The graphic depicts the landscape of a mountainous WRC race territory, represented in digital imagery, distorted by the high speed of the vehicle as it passes. Decreased resolution and pixelation create a feeling of rapid movement, which tears the landscape apart. The WRC version features a slightly more aggressive graphic with stones flying, emphasizing the range of race surfaces in the series, including gravel and tarmac, snow and ice. The WTCR version emphasizes its fast road based nature, with two separate color schemes for each team. For WorldSBK, the Hyundai Blue has been replaced with white to clearly distinguish the i30 Fastback N from race cars.
The modification of the i30 Fastback N Safety Car was mainly led by Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing and limited to only the essential parts of its duty. For example, the rear light bar is sleek and positioned far back to help improve the Safety Car’s aerodynamics and provide better visibility to the riders who follow it. Sabelt bucket seats deliver better hold for the driver and the doctor. In the WorldSBK, the doctor is always seated next to the Safety Driver for first aid purposes and safety reasons. Active Red and Hyundai Blue colored 19-inch forged Braid wheels boast Hyundai WRC car’s heritage. The tailor-made Pirelli P Zero tires and Pagid brake pads ensure it delivers track performance and stopping power.
At the A-pillar of the i30 Fastback N Safety Car, the URL address of the newly launched Hyundai N independent website is placed. The history, models, motorsport information and more can be found at the new Hyundai N website, Hyundai-N.com. Placing the URL address at the A-pillar is another long heritage of Hyundai Motorsport vehicles.
The Hyundai IONIQ has continued its winning ways in 2018, picking up two awards at the Carbuyer & DrivingElectric Awards; Carbuyer Company Car of the Year and DrivingElectric Compact Plug-in Hybrid of the Year. These latest victories come a little over a month after the IONIQ Hybrid was named as WhatCar?’s Best Used Green Car.
Available as a hybrid, plug-in hybrid and fully electric vehicle, IONIQ is the most versatile alternative-fuelled vehicle on the market. In IONIQ Hybrid form it boasts fuel economy of up to 68.2mpg, (4.1L / 100km) while the Electric version is capable of 174 miles (280km) of zero emissions motoring on a single charge. The IONIQ Plug-in offers an enticing mix of both, with 30 miles (48km) of zero emissions motoring and the peace-of-mind of a 1.6-litre GDI range-extending petrol engine.
Tony Whitehorn, Hyundai Motor UK President & CEO, said: “On behalf of the whole team at Hyundai Motor UK, it’s an absolute privilege to see our electrified vehicles picking up even more awards. Hyundai has been a pioneer in this area of the market, not only with the IONIQ, but also with the 300-mile-range Kona Electric and with our NEXO Fuel Cell Vehicle, which offers 414 miles of zero emissions motoring and even cleans the air of particulates as it drives. We’ve invested heavily in our vision of a green future, and it gives me great pleasure to see others recognising it, too.”
Judged and presented by the expert editorial team of Carbuyer.co.uk and DrivingElectric, both run by Dennis Publishing, the awards are designed with genuine consumer interests in mind, delivering on the publications’ promises of being the internet’s most insightful car-buying research tool and specialist electric vehicle website, respectively.
Steve Fowler, Editor-in-Chief of Carbuyer.co.uk and DrivingElectric said: “By offering the IONIQ with a choice of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric powertrains, Hyundai created a unique proposition in the market – one that’s perfectly tailored for company car drivers looking to minimise costs. More than that, the IONIQ is practical, comfortable and good to drive in all its guises, a great company car to suit a range of usage patterns. Although it was the IONIQ range as a whole that won Carbuyer’s Company Car of the Year, the judges picked out the IONIQ Plug-in Hybrid for particular praise as DrivingElectric’s Compact Plug-in of the Year. The Hyundai IONIQ is at its best in plug-in hybrid form delivering family-friendly practicality and the prospect of zero exhaust emissions motoring for owners who can operate it within the genuine 26-mile real world electric range. Solid build and user-friendly tech also count in the favour of this great value all-rounder,”
What’s taking others SO long? Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors have already announced plans to introduce solar charging technology on selected Hyundai Motor Group vehicles. Electricity-generating solar panels will be incorporated into the roof or the hood of vehicles, and will support internal combustion, hybrid and battery electric vehicles with additional electrical power, increasing fuel efficiency and range.
The solar charging technology is being developed to support the vehicle’s main power source, improving mileage and reducing CO2 emissions. It can charge batteries of not just eco-friendly vehicles, including electric and hybrid vehicles, but also of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, thereby improving fuel efficiency. Hyundai Motor Group is developing three types of solar roof charging systems: The first-generation silicon solar roof system, the second-generation semi-transparent solar roof system, and the third-generation lightweight solar-lid on the vehicle’s body.
The first-generation solar roof system, which will be applied to hybrid models, includes a structure of mass-produced silicon solar panels that are mounted on an ordinary roof. This system can charge 30 to 60 percent of the battery per day, depending on the weather condition and the environment. The second-generation semi-transparent solar roof system will be applied to vehicles with internal combustion engines, for the first time in the world. Differentiated from the first-generation system, the second-generation system provides transmissive panel options, also satisfying consumers who desire a sense of openness. The semi-transparent solar panels are applied to a panoramic sunroof, maintaining transparency whilst charging an electric vehicle’s battery or an additional battery mounted on an internal combustion engine vehicle.
Applying solar charging systems to internal combustion engine vehicles will contribute to the increase in vehicle exports, by enabling vehicles to adhere to global-scale environmental laws that regulate CO2 emissions. The third-generation lightweight solar-lid system, currently in the process of pilot study for applying to eco-friendly vehicle models, includes a structure that mounts solar panels on a bonnet and roof combined, in order to maximize energy output. The solar charging system is composed of a solar panel, a controller, and a battery. Electricity is produced when solar energy from the sun touches the solar panel’s surface, which converts this by using photons of light from the sun and then creating the electron-hole pairs in silicon cells to generate solar electricity.
When a 100W solar panel is equipped, in 1 Sun standards (Summer noon, 1000 W/㎡ intensity of radiation) it produces 100Wh of energy per hour. In the controller, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), which controls voltage and current to increase efficiency of the electricity collected in the solar panel, and source transformation take place. The electricity from this process is transformed to the standard voltage by the controller, then stored in the battery or utilized to decrease loads of a vehicle’s Alternating Current (AC) generator. Hyundai Motor Group took not only efficiency but also design into account while developing the solar charging system.
“In the future, various types of electricity generating technologies, including the solar charging system, will be connected to vehicles. This will enable them to develop from a passive device that consumes energy to a solution that actively generates energy,” said Jeong-Gil Park, Executive Vice President of Engineering Design Division of Hyundai Motor Group, who has developed this technology. “The paradigm of the vehicle owner will shift from that of a consumer to an energy prosumer.” Hyundai Motor Group will launch the first generation of this technology into its vehicles after 2019 to help meet global regulations targets and improve vehicle fuel efficiency.
Hyundai has revealed that the NEXO has cleaned more than 900kg (918.75kg) of air on London roads during Clean Driving™ Month. That is the same amount of air that 1 adult breathes in 60 days or 1,455 adults breathe in one hour. The brand-new next generation hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle took to the streets of London across 31 days culminating in a weekend where the public had the opportunity to get behind the wheel.
With a total of 350 miles driven overall, the car – which actually cleans the air as it drives – was driven along London’s dirtiest driving route throughout the month. The route was mapped in partnership with University College London who reviewed open source data from a King’s College London pollution study to look at Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) levels and Particulate Matter (PM) levels with particularly congested roads including Marylebone Road and Park Lane.
The NEXO, which is available next year and emits nothing but water, has an advanced air purification system which filters 99.9% of very fine dust (PM2.5) which is then retained in the NEXO and not expelled back into the air.
NEXO’s air filtration system uses three stages of filtering. Firstly, outside air passes through an advanced air filter where 97% of ultrafine particulates alongside harmful gases such as Sulphur dioxide and Nitrous dioxide are filtered and retained. Remaining particulates are then absorbed on the surface of the humidifier in stage two and finally the air reaches the Gas Diffusion Layer within the fuel cell stack. This layer is made of carbon fibre paper with a microspore structure allowing for further filtration – the resulting air released has over 99.9% of ultra-fine particles and toxic gases filtered out.
Sylvie Childs, Hyundai’s Senior Product Manager for NEXO (above) says: “We are all concerned about air quality and what affects it. At Hyundai, we are committed to improving the efficiency and environmental performance of all our vehicles and have been investing billions in bringing a full range of low and zero emission vehicles to the marketplace. We believe that the availability of alternatives, like the NEXO fuel cell electric vehicle, will bring the UK closer to its zero emissions future.”
The NEXO is Hyundai’s technological flagship, a stylish SUV packed full of the latest innovation in Advanced Drivers Assistance Systems and a driving range of up to 414 miles (WLTP). The hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle emits nothing but water and can be refuelled in less than 5 minutes – similar to the time it takes to refuel a conventional diesel or petrol car.
As well as being a zero emissions vehicle, NEXO also features an adjustable regenerative braking system that recuperates additional energy when possible and significantly reduces other pollutants like brake dust. From 2019, the new NEXO will be available to consumers and via selected lease companies.
Hyundai Motor has been ranked among the highest valued brands in the world once again, according to the latest rankings published by global brand specialist Interbrand. Hyundai’s global brand value grows 3% since 2017 to a company record high of US $13.5 billion. This result successfully places the company in a Top 40 Best Global Brandsposition for the fourth year in a row. The company is ranked the world’s 36th most valuable brand in challenging conditions of many global markets.
“Hyundai Motor is an innovative and creative brand that continually develops and implements new vehicle functions that our customers want, providing them with seamless automotive experiences, so we are thrilled to see the company’s brand value increase continuously year over year,” said Wonhong Cho, Chief Marketing Officer, Hyundai Motor Company. “Recent developments in the automotive industry, such as electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving, present huge opportunities for Hyundai to be a leading force in the future of global mobility.” Hyundai Motor maintains sixth position in the global automotive rankings. This follows a period of exponential growth for the company, which has seen a four-fold increase in brand value since 2005.
“The continuous growth of Hyundai’s brand value is the result of Hyundai’s investments in future mobility initiatives, as well as its commitment to continuously enhance the strength of its brand. The launch of NEXO, based on advanced fuel cell technology, as well as its new high performance brand N have showcased Hyundai’s technological credentials and laid the foundations for a more differentiated positioning for the Hyundai brand. Brands that truly internalize their values and respond rapidly to market changes always add value for their businesses,”Mike Rocha, Global Director of Brand Valuation for Interbrand said.
Hyundai has achieved a significant number of major automotive industry milestones, including creating the world’s first dedicated hydrogen-powered SUV, NEXO. Hyundai’s eco-car line-up also includes the All-new Kona Electric, and the IONIQ, which showcases the company’s pioneering spirit in the field of future mobility. With its progressive models Hyundai offers the broadest range of eco-powertrains in the industry.
On the local front…
Meanwhile in Malaysia, Hyundai-Sime Darby Motors (HSDM) is expanding its sales and service network in Peninsular Malaysia by adding on five more sales and service outlets at various locations namely Seri Kembangan, Alor Setar, Sungai Petani, Muar and Menglembu to improve access to its products and service.
“We are opening up more sales and service centres particularly in the suburbs to make it more accessible for Hyundai owners living outside the city areas, and also for those who are passing by when travelling from one district to another. We have covered most of the city and town areas in all states, so naturally, our next move is to expand to the suburbs to offer convenience to Hyundai owners living in those areas,” said Mr Dennis Ho, Managing Director of Sime Darby Motors (Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan).
In the central region of the Peninsular, a spanking new sales showroom has opened up at Taman Equine in Seri Kembangan. The showroom is operated by Millennium Automart Sdn Bhd, which has vast experience in managing premium auto brands, and is committed to offering the highest standards in service to all its customers. Up north in Kedah, GS Smart Auto Gallery has opened its sales outlet and a service centre at Kompleks Perniagaan Bawal in Alor Setar. In Sungai Petani, Lee Cheng Motor Services Sdn Bhd has opened a service centre in Kawasan Miel Phase II, offering maintenance services for all Hyundai models, while in Muar, Ang Trading & Motor Credit Sdn Bhd has opened a service centre along Jalan Sulaiman. Both the Muar and Alor Setar service centres are authorised IONIQ Hybrid service centre.
In Menglembu, Perak, Vong Auto Service Centre will be opening its service centre on the 1st of November at Kawasan Perusahaan Menglembu, offering service maintenance for all Hyundai models. With these new sales and service centres, Hyundai has a total of 69 outlets (including all 3S centres, sales outlet and service centres) nationwide. For more information, customers can log on to www.hyundai.com.my or call Hyundai’s Customer Careline at 1-300-13-2000.
Hyundai Motor has triumphed again in Red Dot Awards with the honorary title “Red Dot: Brand of the Year 2018”, adding to its five previously received Communication Design accolades for 2018 for its creative and innovative design.
The Red Dot Award is one of the most highly-respected international design competitions in the world, and the “Red Dot: Brand of the Year” is awarded to the brand that has come up with innovative and creative design on a particularly high level. This year it took into consideration Hyundai’s innovative design solutions, quality of design and brand management expertise.
“It is an honor to be selected as the Red Dot: Brand of the Year 2018. We are humbled to receive such an accolade, as this award is a validation that we are on the right track and it is an impressive milestone for our brand image,” said Wonhong Cho, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Hyundai Motor Company.“This should encourage us to push harder in our approach and be a stepping stone for more creative and innovative projects in the future so that our brand can truly be loved by all.” The official ceremony honoring the award will take in Berlin, Germany on October 26.
“In a highly saturated market, Hyundai succeeds in repeatedly addressing its customers in a creative manner, and manages to convey the technical background of its cars in a universally comprehensible way. The company’s innovative design approaches are both creative and high-quality, providing customers with a unique, one-of-a-kind, 360-degree brand experience.” said professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award.
In August, Hyundai Motor set the all-time record for Red Dot Awards in the company’s history, winning four Red Dots and three “Red Dot: Best of the Best”. Hyundai won awards for its Solati Moving Hotel, Hyundai Pavilion, Genesis Gangnam, Genesis Sound Design, Pioneer Film and Safety Hologram in their respective categories, including Retail Design, Sound Design, Spatial Communication, Film & Animation and Interface & User Experience Design.
Hyundai Motor has elaborated on a step forward in its design philosophy with providing a more detailed blueprint for ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ by unveiling the HDC-2 ‘Grandmaster’ SUV concept and presented a new N Brand Global Strategy with line-up expansion at the 2018 Busan International Motor Show.
Having first introduced the ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ direction with the HDC-1 ‘Le Fil Rouge’ concept vehicle at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, Hyundai further explored and elaborated on the philosophy with its latest SUV concept vehicle, the HDC-2 Grandmaster concept (below). The Le Fil Rouge sedan provided a clear direction for Hyundai’s design philosophy, while the new SUV concept vehicle further proved the versatility of this design language that will be portrayed in future Hyundai vehicles, opening up new possibilities for an even wider spectrum of attractive designs.
Hyundai also introduced the Veloster N (below) at the Busan International Motor Show, laying out the blueprint for its High Performance N Brand. Hyundai will further diversify its N Brand Product Portfolio including High Performance N models, N Line Vehicles with new design and performance enhancing elements and N Option, customization parts by N, which is available for the entire Hyundai line-up. In addition, Hyundai showcased the enhanced Tucson with refined design and enhanced active safety features including a standard Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA).
Exemplifying the theme of ‘Future Mobility Life’, Hyundai divided its booth into five distinct spaces – Garage N, Hyundai Veloster Street, Design Gallery, Hydrogen Electricity House and the Life Square – all of which aim to highlight Hyundai’s design philosophy and mobility life, as well as to provide valued customer experience.
Thomas Schemera, Executive Vice President and head of the High Performance Vehicle & Motorsport Division, said “I am thrilled to share our vision for the Brand today with you. We will continue to diversify our products and tailor them to the unique needs and experiences of each customer, so that every Hyundai vehicle provides a fun-to-drive experience throughout everyday life.”
“Today we showcased two concept vehicles as a blueprint for our evolved design strategy,” said SangYup Lee, Vice President and head of Hyundai styling. “Making a big step forward in terms of design with the Hyundai Look strategy, we will move towards becoming a brand that customers can really relate to emotionally. Moving on from being a brand that provides a great value, we will aspire to also become a brand that is widely beloved by our customers”
More…
Veloster N and N Brand Global Strategy…
First introduced at the North American International Auto Show in January 2018, the Veloster N is Hyundai’s second N model, following the ‘i30 N’ launched in Europe last year, and the first model to be showcased to Korean customers.
As part of Hyundai’s High Performance N Business, the Veloster N offers differentiated exterior and interior designs, focusing on fun-to-drive characteristics and providing the best driving performance to drivers, as well as passengers.
Equipped with a 2.0-liter turbocharged high performance engine and 6-speed manual transmission, Veloster N boasts maximum power output of 275hp and torque output of 36.0 kgf·m.
With launch control function for spontaneous start and rev matching function for dynamic gear change, Veloster N is also a true ‘Cornering Rascal’ ready to take on any difficult corners.
Hyundai’s N Vehicles demonstrate that the thrill of driving should be measured by the driver’s heartbeats per minute (BPM), rather than revs per minute (RPM), emphasizing exhilarating sensations experienced behind the wheel.
Veloster N is a part of Hyundai’s N brand Global Strategy, which aimed to provide a ground-breaking experience for drivers. Hyundai’s N line-up is based on the company’s philosophy of providing high performance driving technology and an exciting driving experience reminiscent of motorsports, granting dynamic feeling and sensation to everyday drivers.
The market response to the first N Model, ‘the i30 N’, has been so positive that the company is even considering increasing the production volume.
Elaborating on the high performance division, Schemera said “Our motorsports vehicles will spearhead the N Brand at the apex of the brand’s hierarchy. Not to mention that the valuable experience and technology derived from our success in motorsports will cascade down to all the future N products.”
HDC-1 Le Fil Rouge and HDC-2 Grandmaster concept: A step forward with the Hyundai Look…
During the 2018 Busan International Motor Show, Hyundai showcased the first SUV concept featuring the Hyundai Look, a demonstration of evolving Hyundai design philosophy.
Debuted at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, the Le Fil Rouge concept car highlights Hyundai’s evolved design direction under the theme of ‘Sensuous Sportiness’. Following the concept, the HDC-2 Grandmaster model reinterprets Hyundai’s design DNA, and is designed through harmonization of four key elements – proportion, architecture, styling and technology – thereby bringing emotional value and desirability.
The concept name of Grandmaster is derived from the game of chess. While the world’s finest chess champion is called the grandmaster, the concept vehicle is named to indicate that just as the sum of all chess pieces completes the game of chess, all forthcoming Hyundai vehicles will come to form a harmonious vehicle line-up demonstrating the Hyundai Look while each maintains distinctive character and role.
The beauty is further enhanced by the architecture and styling. The new approach of this ‘Light Architecture’ creates a perfect silhouette to the front and the rear, not to mention its technological innovation, which couples spectacular design with a comfortable experience for drivers and passengers. The design elements of ‘Sensuous Sportiness’ will be applied to Hyundai’s upcoming sedan and SUV models.
Tucson SUV…
The redesigned and enhanced 2019 Tucson features changes inside and out and is an attention-grabbing SUV. Its bold cascading grille and new headlight/DRL design create dramatic impressions.
Also, Hyundai applied an 8-speed automatic transmission and HTRAC all-wheel drive system for improved driving performance as well as better fuel economy.
Incorporating the latest technologies and safety features, the 2019 Tucson meets modern consumers’ daily needs and provides peace of mind with enhanced safety.
Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA), Lane Keeping Assist (LKA) and Driver Attention Warning (DAW) are equipped on all 2019 Tucson models to further enhance safety. Hyundai’s extra efforts to make the 2019 Tucson safer were recently recognized by top industry experts and consumers alike – J.D. Power named Tucson the Most Dependable Small SUV and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) selected the vehicle as a Top Safety Pick.
*Above mentioned features and specification may vary by market.
The enhanced Tucson goes on sale in the Korean market in the third quarter of 2018.
Hyundai Sime Darby Motors has announced the new prices of its vehicles, set to take effect on 1st June 2018, when the GST is abolished. You can find the new prices in this downloadable document:
Savings of up to RM10,000 are to be had on the Starex soon, and up to RM6,500 on the Ioniq (below).
On the global front, Hyundai CRADLE, Hyundai Motor Company’s corporate venturing and open innovation business, has announced it is investing in the Metawave Corporation to build intelligent radars for autonomous vehicles. Metawave is revolutionizing radar sensing by leveraging adaptive metamaterials (conventional materials using engineered structures with unique electromagnetic properties not found in nature) and artificial intelligence (AI) to create smart radars. Hyundai is closely evaluating new technologies, such as Metawave’s high-performance radar capable of 3-D imaging, for future autonomous platforms.
“Next-generation radar technology can use advanced algorithms for object detection and classification,” said John Suh, vice president of Hyundai CRADLE. “A new radar system that can increase resolution and accuracy with an AI engine will be a disruptive technology.”
How it works…
Three sensors are the fundamental components of the perception system for self-driving cars today: camera, LiDAR and radar. The camera is the highest-resolution sensor but cannot see objects beyond 50 meters. LiDAR extends the range to about 150 meters, with a fairly high-resolution imaging capability. Both camera and LiDAR are affected by bad weather and dirty roads. Radar, by its nature, operates at a lower frequency and “sees” objects at long ranges faster and in all weather and driving conditions. Today’s radar cannot cover wide angles at long ranges and lacks the resolution to differentiate between objects.
It needs a large number of antennae and expensive chips to run the complex digital signals. This type of system takes time and energy, making it inefficient. Metawave’s advanced radar platform, WARLORD uses just one antenna and pushes the complexity of the analog space, using ultra-fast and precise responses. With WARLORD, the antenna itself shapes and steers the beam in all directions using pencil beams, deep learning engines and AI algorithms to recognize objects quickly and send 4-D point cloud to the sensor fusion.
“The investment by Hyundai represents another key company milestone and further proof of our rapid momentum as we bring WARLORD long-range radar with imaging and AI capabilities to autonomous vehicles,” said Metawave CEO Maha Achour, PhD. “With our talented team of mm-wave and metamaterial experts, we were the first to demonstrate Electronically Scanned Metamaterial Array for Autonomous Driving at 77GHz. This technology will be an enabling factor for Hyundai and other auto leaders who are striving to improve the vehicle experience.”
Hyundai Autonomous Vehicle Development…
In January, Hyundai Motor Company and Aurora, a leader in autonomous vehicle technology, announced a strategic partnership to bring self-driving Hyundai vehicles to market by 2021. This partnership will incorporate Aurora’s self-driving technology into Hyundai vehicles, starting with models custom-developed and launched in test programs and pilot cities.
In February, a fleet of Hyundai NEXO fuel cell electric SUVs successfully completed a self-driven 190-kilometer journey from Seoul to Pyeongchang. The NEXOs were equipped with level 4 self-driving technology, as defined by SAE international standards, and 5G network technology.
These NEXOs featured a number of advanced technologies that enabled them to recognize surrounding vehicles more accurately and make better judgments at junctions and at branching roads, navigate through toll gates by accurately calculating the toll gates’ width and position and precisely pinpoint the vehicle’s position on a map by using external sensors fitted for situations when the GPS signal was interrupted, such as going through long underground tunnels.
What is Metawave Technology?
Metawave is building next-generation wireless technology platforms to address major challenges facing the wireless sensing and communications industries operating at mm-wave frequencies. By using engineered metamaterial structures and AI algorithms, Metawave was able to simplify architectures and improve system performance while lowering cost to both providers and consumers using its electronically beamforming and steering WARLORD and SABER technologies. The company is initially focusing on delivering the WARLORD smart radar platforms for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving. In parallel, Metawave is building the SABERTM (Smart Antenna for Beamforming Electromagnetic Radiation) smart antenna platforms for fixed wireless and the 5G cellular infrastructure to power dense point-to-point, point-to-multipoint and mesh configurations for backhaul and access networks.
The 5G market will benefit from Metawave’s SABER platform by reducing interference and increasing the reach of coverage of their base stations. Instead of the massive numbers of antennae and complex digital processing used in today’s 5G radios, SABER uses one antenna per transceiver port, which is able to focus the signal in narrow beams to extend the reach of base stations and service dense number of users with little interference.