Hyundai surpassed 10 million global connected car service subscribers this month. The milestone comes just one year and 10 months after reaching 5 million subscribers in August 2021. This rapid growth supports the acceleration of the group’s Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) strategy.
Connected car services utilize wireless networks to enable in-vehicle infotainment systems and smartphone applications that provide customers with convenient access to their vehicles. These services have evolved beyond the basics, such as real-time navigation, voice recognition and remote vehicle control, to include innovative services, such as over-the-air (OTA) updates, in-car payments and audio/video streaming. Hyundai, Kia and Genesis currently operate Bluelink, Kia Connect and Genesis Connected services.
Hyundai introduced the first connected
car services in Korea in 2003 and have since expanded the services to
the global market. In overseas markets, the services were first launched
in the U.S. in June 2011, and have expanded to China, Europe, India and
most recently Singapore, providing services to customers in more than
50 countries.
The global subscribers reached 1 million in May
2018, followed by 5 million in August 2021, 8 million in October 2022
and 10 million this month, showing rapid growth. As the global market
for the services expand, the number of overseas subscribers is growing
faster than in Korea.
With this growth trend, Hyundai expects to reach 20 million subscribers worldwide, including Korea, by the end of 2026. In
the future, Hyundai plans to consider expanding their connected car
services to markets in Southeast Asia by strengthening partnerships with
major global service providers to further develop innovative services
that meet those customers’ diverse needs.
In addition, the
connected car services are expected to be further enhanced in line with
Hyundai’s transition to SDV systems. The group unveiled its SDV vision
and strategy at the ‘Unlock the Software Age’ event in October 2022, and
announced that it will start making OTA software updates available on
all future vehicle models.
Based on a domain-centralized
architecture, Hyundai is integrating vehicle controllers in four
domains, including electronics and convenience, driving performance,
infotainment and advanced driver assistance system. It is expected to
eventually evolve into a centralized architecture for unified control.
Hyundai
is also developing software and related devices from a holistic user
experience perspective, where mobility devices connect with various
services to create a new mobility ecosystem, and where rich mobility
data and AI technologies understand user intent so that all experiences
are naturally connected.