Hyundai Group Extends NVIDIA DRIVE Throughout Its Fleet, Standardizing AI-Based Infotainment

Hyundai Motor Group has been working with NVIDIA since 2015 in developing an In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) system based on NVIDIA DRIVE. The IVI system shipped in 2019 on GV80 and G80 car models from the company's luxury vehicle division Genesis. Earlier this month, the group announced that from 2022, all of its vehicles' IVI systems, ranging from entry-level systems to premium ones from the Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands, will be equipped with NVIDIA DRIVE.

The standardization of AI-based user experience means that all Hyundai vehicles will be equipped with next-generation user experience and a centralized cockpit platform with computing headroom for Over-the-Air (OTA) updates and additional functionalities. Moreover, the group can significantly reduce production and infotainment software development costs and time to market by adopting a standard platform throughout its entire fleet. The announcement confirms the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (OEM's) commitment to deploying scalable and upgradable cockpit architecture regardless of the significant up-front investments and the considerable impact that COVID-19 had on new vehicle sales in 2020.

Centralized cockpit platforms unify IVI, rear-seat entertainment, instrument clusters, and heads-up displays onto a single source for all graphics and display processing. This simplifies development and reduces bill of material costs by combining parameters in a single chip. Additionally, this makes it possible to streamline the communication channel between driver and passenger features, providing an improved user experience. The benefits of such consolidation include:

• Increased power efficiency
• Easier integration
• Scalability
• Agile and straightforward updates, fostering silicon and software innovations
• Reduced vehicle weight
• Reduced time to market
• Lower vehicle production costs
• Additional capacity (headroom) for software updates after the car has been sold, enabling monetization of a growing install base of connected cars

NVIDIA DRIVE is a software-defined supercomputer based on Artificial-Intelligence (AI) and designed to replace several electonic control units, simplifying vehicle architecture and providing headroom for adding new functionalities over time. Apart from video, navigation, audio, and connectivity, the platform can also enable AI-based applications such as virtual assistants with conversational capabilities and driver and occupant tracking and monitoring, allowing for convenience and personalization features for drivers and passengers based on their identity and state. As a result, all vehicles in the Hyundai Group will have the capacity to deliver personalized entertainment online and offline.

There has been a paradigm shift in the in-vehicle architecture, moving from hardware based to software based. OTA updates are a central element of software-defined vehicles and could become an endless source of revenue as additional functionalities are enabled throughout the vehicle's lifetime, generating new revenue streams. This requires a shift from OEMs' traditional costs-driven approach because all cars, including entry-level models, would have to be equipped with excess headroom to allow for upgradable software architecture and predefined hardware and functionalities that can be enabled either at the time of purchase or later for a fee. Tesla has been successfully implementing this strategy for years, and BMW and Mercedes-Benz have both made significant moves toward this direction.

Starting in 2024, every generation of Mercedes-Benz's vehicle lineup will have a software-defined computing architecture enabled by NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin. All cars will receive software updates with the latest autonomous driving and intelligent cockpit features periodically, similarly to smartphones. Although the partnership is focused on autonomous driving, the concept of exceeding headroom that allows OTA updates can also be applied to infotainment. Moreover, the same risks that apply to Mercedes Benz also apply to Hyundai. OEMs must make higher building material investments, elevating the unit product costs, to allow for features that may or may not be activated by customers. Therefore, they must have a solid road map to ensure customers that premium and entry-level vehicles will acquire additional features to justify the return on investment. This may be challenging as drivers may not be interested in functionalities that were not bought at the time of purchase or may oppose paying for functionalities that, although dormant, are already featured in the car.

BMW is the first traditional OEM employing this new business model. From 3Q 2020, BMW owners can book additional vehicle functions, such as heated seats, intelligent voice assistant, and advanced driver assistance OTA via the ConnectedDrive Store. The company's experience should serve as a model for Mercedes and Hyundai, although Hyundai has the additional challenge of replicating the strategy to mass-market vehicles.