Hyundai, Kia, Samsung Team on Connected Cars

Hyundai, Kia and Samsung have confirmed plans to work together on connected cars.

The companies say they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will lead to Samsung’s SmartThings IoT platform being linked to vehicles from the two automotive brands.

The Car-to-Home and Home-to-Car partnership would open the door to a whole new scale of functionality.

This would allow Hyundai and Kia customers to remotely control digital appliances in their homes via their cars’ infotainment systems, as well as using AI speakers, TVs and smartphone apps to control various vehicle functions from their houses.

In press materials issued to announce the deal, the automotive brands’ parent company Hyundai Motor Group gave an example of the benefits this would offer in practice.

It cited a commute on a hot summer evening, where a Hyundai or Kia driver returning from work could activate Home Mode to turn on an air conditioner or purifier, start a robot vacuum and switch on the lights to ensure their living space is as comfortable as possible on their return.

Alternatively, it highlighted the potential of an Away Mode that could pre-activate the vehicle’s air-conditioning to a comfortable temperature before going out, as well as set the robot vacuum to clean their house in their absence.

In the case of a Car-to-Home service, specific modes could be pre-set to avoid distracting vehicle owners from driving, while location-based automatic operation and touchscreen and voice commands are also promised.

According to Samsung, the tie-up will also incorporate a home energy management service to let users monitor how much energy is consumed by the connected devices. Information on their EVs will also be available, enabling users to choose the optimal time for charging.

Hyundai and Kia say they have already been providing more limited Car-to-Home and Home-to-Car services through existing partnerships. But the involvement of a company as huge as Samsung clearly offers the potential for massively expanded services.

The agreement isn’t just limited to South Korea, with Hyundai Motor Group saying “overseas markets” will be covered. How soon it all comes to fruition, though, is unclear, with no timeline offered as yet.

Similarly, there has been no mention of which Hyundai and Kia vehicles will benefit from SmartThings, although Samsung has published a promotional picture featuring the former’s Ioniq 6, so it’s possible the 2023 World Car of the Year may get the tech at some point in the future.

Chanwoo Park, executive vice president at Samsung, hailed the agreement, saying: “By connecting the SmartThings platform with vehicles, we’ll be able to significantly enhance the customer experience in both the home and the car.”