SEOUL, South Korea-Hyundai Motor Co. will begin selling vehicles with a wide range of advanced telematics features next year in South Korea, and plans to expand into other areas of the world in the future.
Technology giant IBM Corp. developed the telematics offerings, which the company said are based on open technology standards. IBM’s other telematics customers include BMW, Audi, Honda and DaimlerChrysler.
The Hyundai/IBM offering includes air-bag deployment notification, which would automatically call emergency rescue services in the event of an accident; remote theft-alarm and stolen-vehicle tracking through GPS; an information portal for news, weather and stock quotes; and a 24-hour assistance and concierge service.
“We believe that advanced technology in electronics and software will drive 90 percent of product innovation in the automotive industry for the next 10 years,” said Sangkwon Kim, senior executive vice president of Hyundai’s Research and Development Division. “Partnering with IBM has helped and continues to help us shorten our time to market and enhance product innovation with this revolutionary technology in electronics and software and solutions.”
