Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corp. headquarters in Seoul / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group

By Kim Hyun-bin

Amid intensifying global competition in the automotive software market, Hyundai Motor Group is strengthening its vehicle software R&D organization. The move is aimed at speeding up the establishment of the Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) development system to enhance the automotive group's electronics and infotainment capabilities.

Hyundai Motor Group recently set up an automotive software (SW) department under its R&D headquarters, incorporating the Electronics Development Center and Infotainment Development Center.

Hyundai Motor Group's decision comes amid a recent shift in the global automobile industry, in which core competitiveness lies in software rather than hardware. Stellantis, for instance, announced in January that it would develop connected software with Amazon. It also declared around the end of the last year that it would invest more than 30 billion euros in electrification and software conversion by 2025.

Hyundai Motor Group also included securing software technology among its key tasks this year, with group Chairman Chung Euisun emphasizing software technology along with autonomous driving and robotics in this year's New Year's address. "The competitiveness of the future cutting-edge products pursued by the group depends on securing source software technology," Chung said.

The automotive SW department will be headed by Song Chang-hyeon, a renowned talent in the tech industry. Song has developed his expertise through his work in global tech firms such as Apple and Microsoft. Song is also the founder of Naver Labs, the R&D unit of Korea's biggest web search engine and global ICT brand Naver, where Song served as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Since joining Hyundai Motor Company in April of last year, Song has been leading the Transportation as a Service (TaaS) headquarters in charge of mobility services within the group. With both the service software development and vehicle software development organizations under his command, the carmaker expects to enjoy a synergy effect. It plans to strengthen technology development for over-the-air software update (OTA) services as well as connected services such as Hyundai Motor's Blue Link and Kia Connect.