Upgraded Services for European Customers
Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors have joined hands with Vodafone, Europe's largest telecommunication company, to provide connected car services to European customers starting from early next year.
Vodafone has 120 million customers in Europe and operates telecommunication networks in 51 countries around the world.
The three companies signed an MOU on cooperation in connected cars at Vodafone’s headquarters in Newbury, U.K. on Nov. 12 (local time).
Under the agreement, Kia Motors will begin to install the UVO connected car system in its new cars that will be released early next year, and Hyundai Motor will also launch its BlueLink connected car service next year.
Hyundai and Kia Motors plan to expand their services across 32 European countries within a few years after the first service in eight major European countries, including Britain, Germany, France and Spain.
Hyundai and Kia Motors will utilize Vodafone's telecommunication network to provide an array of services, including navigation that reflects real-time traffic information, local information services such as the locations of parking lots, anti-theft alarm, voice recognition, information on vehicle locations and status of vehicles.
The three companies also agreed to continue cooperation to develop and provide connected car services in other countries outside of Europe.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors are working on a variety of partnerships with global companies to develop world-class connected cars.
In South Korea, they have started a joint development project with Kakao Corp. with the goal of applying Kakao's AI speaker “Kakao Mini” to Hyundai and Kia vehicles after 2019.
In China, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding with Baidu for strategic cooperation on connected cars in July and decided to cooperate in developing core technologies for future cars.