News Room - Business/Economics

Hyundai Motor has taken its first step to develop so-called connected cars, vehicles that the automaker describes as high-end computers running on the road.

The nation’s leading car maker said on Tuesday that its vice chairman, Chung Eui-sun, has met with Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco, at the Korean company’s headquarters in Yangjae-dong, southern Seoul, and agreed to jointly develop the car network system.

Connected cars allow customers to do most of their daily tasks on the road by serving as a hub that is wirelessly connected to the driver’s home or office, the automaker said.

Since the cars will operate like a mobile computer, the development of a network that can transmit large amounts of data at high speed is necessary, the company said. To provide the required network, the automaker plans to invest in basic infrastructure for the next-generation car, including cloud, big data and car security technologies.

“Hyundai’s connected cars will create new and surprising value in everyday life,” said Chung, Hyundai’s vice chairman. “We are expecting a high scale of innovation in … product quality and security.”

Besides the car collaboration, Hyundai and Cisco will jointly run trial tests and conduct basic research studies on related technology. The automaker said the tests will analyze data transactions between connected cars in a variety of conditions. The two companies will also work on making necessary parts for the vehicles.

“The two companies’ competitiveness in many areas, including the connected car, security and bulk data communications, will be key in developing industry-leading platforms,” Robbins said. “Through this collaboration, we will make a technological innovation that will create new experiences and will make changes by digitalization.”

Hyundai said it will allow local start-ups to join the business so that an ecosystem related to the industry can be created. Chung and Robbins visited start-ups currently running trial test projects for connected cars and were briefed on the current progress of projects from engineers and researchers.

Besides its collaboration with Hyundai, Cisco’s CEO is expected to meet with leaders of Korean IT conglomerates, including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Kwon Oh-hyun, as well as government officials related to information communications technology during his visit in Korea, to discuss business opportunities.