Hyundai takes mobility beyond the car
- January 5, 2017
- Posted by: Simon Wait
- Category: Industry News
Hyundai Motor has unveiled its ‘Mobility Vision’ concept which will connect autonomous cars to living and working environments.
The company claims its Smart House technology will blur the line between mobility and living and working space, integrating the car into the daily lives of users.
Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2017 in Las Vegas, the Smart House concept integrates the car with the living space when docked, before transforming it into a mobile living space when customers need to move around.
Hak Su Ha, director of Hyundai Design Center, said, ‘Hyundai Motor recognises the significance of connected technologies and the extent to which they could benefit our customers’ daily lives. Our Smart House concept fully integrates the car into the home, ultimately making the user’s life more comfortable and convenient. By seamlessly blending features from the car with home and work environments, the user experience is uninterrupted whether socialising, working at home, or on the move.’
When ‘docked’ with the Smart Home, Hyundai Motor’s mobility concept could, for example, act as an air conditioner; share its entertainment facilities by mirroring audio and visual outputs with the home’s smart devices; and even provide power in emergency situations, using its on-board fuel cell as a generator.
The company has also revealed new wearable powered robots that it claims will help patients with lower spinal cord injuries regain the ability to walk while also providing upper-body and hip support to prevent back injuries for workers doing repetitive manual work or lifting heavy objects.
Tae Won Lim, head of Hyundai Motor Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute said, ‘We have a vision that Hyundai Motor will become more than just a manufacturer of cars and the advances we make in assistive robotic technologies will allow us to offer customers new levels of mobility freedom. In the future, we hope our pioneering exoskeleton devices will enrich the daily lives of users and form the basis for us to provide more mobility platforms for the well-being of our customers.’
