After visiting the two automotive themed halls at CES, it is not difficult to find that most automakers’ exhibits revolve around two themes: Car OS and ADAS. However, there are also manufacturers with different strategies, such as Hyundai Motor.

Hyundai showcased the technological achievements of its Mobility Strategy, which has been launched for two years in this year’s CES Asia. While it may seem unrelated to the name of CES Asia, a consumer electronics exhibition, a closer look at Hyundai’s three Mobility strategies reveals that they are not only closely related but also comprehensive.

When it comes to Mobility strategy, it can be traced back to two years ago. In 2017, Hyundai officially released the Mobility strategy at CES Asia, establishing three core ideas: Clean Mobility, Freedom in Mobility, and Connected Mobility. Let’s take a closer look.

Clean Mobility – Green Transportation

At this year’s CES Asia, Hyundai emphasized its achievements in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and the related lifestyle concept.

Under the trend of electrification, many traditional fuel car companies have shifted to pure electric vehicles. Although Korea has many excellent power battery companies, compared with other countries, Hyundai has a unique advantage in the electrification field. However, Hyundai believes that there is not only one solution to achieve zero emissions by launching pure electric (BEV) models.

Park Soon-chan, head of Hyundai’s Fuel Cell Business Division, said at the event:

Electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles are like our left and right hands, each type of vehicle has its own strengths and fields of expertise. An automotive industry with zero emissions can only be established when all types of vehicles are combined.

This development idea has been continued within Hyundai. In 1998, Hyundai began to develop fuel cell vehicles, and in 2013 launched the Tucson Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle, which was the world’s first commercialized hydrogen fuel cell car.After establishing the concept of Clean Mobility in 2017, Hyundai Motor Group released its Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Vision 2030 plan at the end of 2018, announcing a KRW 76 trillion (approximately RMB 44.5 billion) investment in fuel cell research and development and facility expansion. The goal is to launch 700,000 hydrogen fuel cell systems by 2030, 500,000 of which will be installed in Hyundai vehicles and the remaining 200,000 will be supplied to other manufacturers for use in buses, commercial vehicles, ships, railways, forklift trucks, and other equipment.

At the event, Hyundai showcased the latest hydrogen fuel cell vehicle NEXO, which has a maximum output power of 120 kW and a NEDC range of 800 kilometers. It only takes 5 minutes to refuel, which is the same speed as gasoline vehicles, and it can perform cold starts at -30℃. The system is durable for 10 years/160,000 kilometers.

Furthermore, while driving, NEXO can purify 99.9% of particulate matter, dust, and air pollutants in the air (cleaning 26.9 kg of air per hour) and only emits water, which can be directly used for plant irrigation.

Additionally, a single NEXO can supply 10 kW of power to other new energy vehicles, not only meeting its own needs but also becoming a mobile power source in case of power outages or emergencies.

However, the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles still faces many obstacles. The production of such vehicles, hydrogen generation and transportation, and the construction cost of fueling stations are all very high, requiring substantial investment. At the beginning of the year, Ouyang Minggao, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Executive Vice Chairman of the China Electric Vehicle 100 People Association, also stated at the 100 People Association for Electric Vehicles that the development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles still faces many obstacles.# Challenges and Advancements in Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Technology in Automotive Industry

Fuel cell technology faces numerous challenges, mainly related to membrane and air compressors in fuel cell engines. Moreover, hydrogen technology, especially the on-board hydrogen storage technology, has a low energy density. Currently, hydrogen technology is lagging behind fuel cell technology, and new breakthroughs are needed in various aspects of hydrogen technology, such as reducing energy consumption in liquefaction. It is expected that a new generation of hydrogen technology will emerge between 2025 and 2030. In conclusion, based on the development of hydrogen fuel cell technology in China and globally, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are expected to lag behind pure electric vehicles by about 10 years in terms of industrialization.

Although hydrogen fuel cell vehicles have developed quite well in South Korea, there is still a long way to go in promoting hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China.

Freedom in Mobility – The Freedom to Travel Freely

At this year’s exhibition, Hyundai did not talk much about the development of Freedom in Mobility. However, at last year’s CES, Hyundai announced an investment in Griiip, and plans to apply its artificial intelligence image recognition technology to the development of its self-driving technology for cars.

Moreover, just yesterday (June 13), Aurora, which is committed to the research and development of self-driving technology, announced that Hyundai Kia had joined their B-round financing.

Aurora also mentioned that they have been collaborating with Hyundai Kia since last year, and have integrated Aurora Driver into the Hyundai NEXO model. In the future, they will also provide self-driving technology for a variety of Hyundai and Kia car models.

Aurora was founded in 2016. CEO Chris Urmson was the CTO of the original Google self-driving car team, who wrote the code for Google’s self-driving software. CTO Drew Bagnell was the former head of Uber’s self-driving car perception and computer vision, CPO Sterling Anderson was the former head of Tesla Autopilot, and software engineering vice president Jinnah Hosein was the former vice president of SpaceX and Tesla software engineering.

This team has significant advantages in both technology R&D and product landing, which makes their combined products highly anticipated.

Connected Mobility – Smart and Connected Driving

Connected mobility means networked and intelligent driving. With the development of the Internet, everything can be connected to the network, including cars.

At this year’s CES Asia, Hyundai Motor Company collaborated with three Chinese start-ups, Immotor, Kuandeng Technology, and UBTECH, in the areas of intelligent and eco-friendly batteries, high-precision map applications, and pre-installed car networking data applications. Additionally, Hyundai has established a CRADLE office in Beijing this year to strengthen collaboration with local Chinese companies.

This move is critical. Unlike 20 years ago, there are many configuration discrepancies between countries, and strengthening collaboration with local Chinese companies can help better-understand the needs of Chinese customers. This will enable Hyundai to make optimizations in its products, especially in areas where there are significant differences in assisted driving, navigation, voice recognition, and other fields.

Finally, we will share some notes from media interviews with Hyundai Motor Company’s top management during CES Asia.

Q: How does Hyundai Motor Company view the future trends of the automotive industry, especially in the field of new energy?

A: Based on environmental and health considerations, the market for new energy vehicles will continue to expand. In this market, electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles will develop together. Electric vehicles have been widely used in many cities, and fuel cell vehicles have been extensively used in the commercial vehicle sector because commercial vehicles demand high requirements in terms of range and strong power.

Q: The theme of this year’s CES is “Looking Ahead to 2030: Realizing Clean Mobility with Hydrogen-powered Transportation.” Why does Hyundai Motor Company put emphasis on the development and utilization of hydrogen energy among the different new energy development directions? What is the plan for the development of hydrogen energy?

A: As we all know, hydrogen energy is currently the cleanest, most environmentally friendly, pollution-free, and zero-emission energy source known to humans. Environmental travel, mobile travel, and connected travel are the three major visions of Hyundai Motor Company. Therefore, based on the brand concept of improving human living environment and creating a better life, Hyundai has been thinking about how to better promote environmentally friendly transportation since 1998.

We have been focusing on the development of new energy, and in particular, the development and research of hydrogen fuel cell engines since the launch of the world’s first mass-produced fuel cell vehicle in 2013. Our plan is to launch 700,000 sets of new hydrogen fuel cell systems by 2030, of which 500,000 sets will be used in Hyundai’s cars, and the other 200,000 sets will be provided to other manufacturers, including buses, commercial vehicles, ships, rail vehicles, etc.Meanwhile, we also noticed that the Chinese government is vigorously supporting the development and utilization of hydrogen energy from a policy perspective. As one of the most important markets for modern cars, China naturally has corresponding development plans. Currently, we have cooperated with Tsinghua University to establish a hydrogen fund, strengthening the development of relevant technologies in China.

Q: Could you introduce the concept of “Future Hydrogen Society” by Hyundai Motor?

A: At this year’s CES Asia, Hyundai Motor showcased our understanding of the “Future Hydrogen Society” at our booth. We displayed the NEXO concept car and its hydrogen fuel cell system with an efficiency of up to 60% and only emitting water. Thus, we consider how to use NEXO more effectively to build a more environmentally friendly and low-energy consumption social ecology.

As demonstrated, we can park NEXO at our doorstep and use the electrical energy generated by it to power our homes. The emitted water can be used for irrigation, and we can also take out a fully charged skateboard or electric bicycle from the trunk to meet our last-mile travel needs.

This is a concept we propose. As the development deepens, the boundaries of the “Future Hydrogen Society” will become larger, and we will be able to use the energy provided by NEXO in more scenarios.

Q: Hyundai Motor has put forward the transformation from a traditional car manufacturer to a provider of intelligent transportation solutions. How do you understand this change?

A: After more than 100 years of development, the automotive industry, which began with the second industrial revolution, is now facing a huge disruptive technological revolution. It is driven by four aspects: electrification, interconnectivity, automation, and mobility services. It is the consensus of the entire industry.

Under the drive of such a revolution, the future automotive companies will no longer be independent of the larger environment and only complete a series of actions such as research and development, production, and sales. They will definitely move towards a more intelligent, open, and networked direction, and will also satisfy consumers’ travel needs through more methods.

Therefore, for Hyundai Motor, from now on, we need to consider the role we play in meeting human travel needs in the future. For example, our “Future Hydrogen Society” concept is a solution that combines electrification, interconnectivity, automation, and mobility services.

Q: Since the implementation of the Mobility strategy two years ago, Hyundai Motor has invested in many startup companies. What are the selection criteria for investment targets and what cooperation results have been achieved so far?

A: As a strategic investor, we choose startups that align with Hyundai Motor’s strategic direction for investment. Under this criterion, since the launch of the Mobility strategy two years ago, Hyundai Motor has invested in or cooperated with more than 40 startups.

In the keynote speech, the Chinese electric scooter share company, Immotor, which represents the typical case, cooperates with Hyundai Motor in China’s exclusive Personal Mobility field.

Last year, Hyundai Motor invested in DeepGlint and announced cooperation at CES. DeepGlint’s AI image recognition technology will be applied to the research and development of Hyundai Motor’s unmanned driving technology.

Q: What is the role of Hyundai CRADLE to be established in Beijing?

A: In order to achieve localization in China, we must cooperate with local enterprises. Because local companies not only understand Chinese consumers better, but also in future automotive technologies such as unmanned driving, vehicle networking, speech recognition, artificial intelligence, it is actually impossible without the big data support of these local companies. CRADLE is not only an innovation hub for Hyundai Motor and China’s most creative entrepreneurs to communicate, but also will play an active role in local network construction and nurturing start-up organizations in China.

Small smart car OS commercialized, Baidu Apollo suspense after | CES Asia* Will the first Android Automotive system endorsed by Google become the biggest selling point for Polestar 2? | CES Asia

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.