Items tagged with hyundai
Back in June of this year, Hyundai Motor Group acquired a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics, the robotics experts who have put out several entertaining videos highlighting some remarkable robot capabilities (laugh now, cry later when the robot overlords flip the script). One of their more popular creations is Spot, the goodest-of-boys in the robot realm. What is Spot up to these days? Patrolling a Kia plant in South Korea. Hyundai has kicked off a pilot program called "Factory Safety Service Robot," which is based on Spot, the quadruped robot that has seen plenty of action (even in French military exercises). It's basically Spot with a new role and some new tricks, and a special task—patrol...
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After teasing its first “built from the ground-up” electric vehicle two weeks ago, Kia this morning officially unveiled its new EV6. As you can tell from its looks, the EV6 is designed to turn heads and won’t be mistaken for anything else on the road. Built on Hyundai’s E-GMP platform, the EV6 rides on a relatively long 114.2-inch wheelbase, which is longer than that of the Kia Sorento 3-row crossover (110 inches). However, at just 184.3 inches in length, it’s about 4 inches shorter than the Sorento. The EV6 has taught proportions, short overhangs, and its overall styling gives us a preview of how future Kia vehicles will look. Perhaps the most exciting design...
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Hyundai first gave us a glimpse at its latest electric vehicle when it debuted the Concept 45 two years ago. Now, the production version of that car has been unveiled, and it is a fetching design quite unlike any other EV that has come before it. Witness the Ioniq 5, which features a crisp, angle-driven look that is both simple and futuristic at the same time. At a time when most vehicles are seeming to blur together with designs that are increasingly looking the same spin on the "crossover" concept, the Ionic 5 is a breath of fresh air. At the front of the car is a bold face with quad headlamps flanking a faux grille. Along the sides, you can see the angular design in full effect with a huge...
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It seems as though we've been hearing rumors about an Apple electric vehicle (EV) for at least the past half-decade. Those reports died down over the last year, but they're bursting back to life this week thanks to a rather curious admission from Hyundai Motor Group. The South Korean auto giant today confirmed that it is in talks with Apple to produce a future EV, which is quite odd considering that potential Apple suppliers/partners usually don’t acknowledge such talks. “We understand that Apple is in discussion with a variety of global automakers, including Hyundai Motor," said a Hyundai representative in a statement to CNBC. "As the discussion is at its early stage, nothing...
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Boston Dynamics has long impressed us with its robotic creations, from the adorable Spot robot dog to the humanoid-like Atlas. Good ol' Spot is now a commercial product, and is available for anyone with enough coin ($74,500 to be exact) to purchase one; heck, it will even fetch you a beer. Atlas, on the other hand, has impressed us with its gymnastic skills and its calm demeanor even when abused by its human handlers. Now Boston Dynamics' family of robots is having some fun to celebrate the close of 2020. Spot and Atlas were joined by their oddball sibling Handle to shake their booties on the dance floor to "Do You Love Me" by The Contours. The video starts off impressive enough...
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NVIDIA has announced a pivotal partnership today with Hyundai, which will see its DRIVE platform find its way into all of the automaker’s vehicles. This includes the mainstream Hyundai and Kia brands along with the luxury-oriented Genesis brand, which is now starting to gain traction in the United States. That means that whether you purchase a lowly Kia Rio or a top-of-the-line Genesis G80, you'll have access to NVIDIA's powerful in-vehicle infotainment platform within the coming years. According to NVIDIA, DRIVE will be standard in all models starting in 2022, and will power audio, video, navigation and "AI-enhanced connect car services" within the vehicles. NVIDIA is providing...
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Genesis is slowly fleshing out its U.S. product lineup as the luxury-car arm of Hyundai. While the luxury brand has so far only released sedans in America, crossover vehicles are also on the way. And if the new “Mint Concept” is any indication, it looks like the South Korean automakers is hip to the idea of a premium compact two-door. The Mint Concept is described a “luxury city car” that is highly maneuverable and has room for what appears to be three passengers courtesy of its old school “bench” front seat. The most striking aspect of the Mint Concept – well besides its rather intriguing matte Hunter Green paint color – is its tidy proportions....
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Last month, the FTC stepped up and said that those "Warranty Void if Removed" stickers were totally illegal and ran afoul of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. The FTC is now back and is telling six companies that they are in violation, giving the firms 30 days to clean up their acts or face potential legal action. The FTC sent letters out to ASUS, HTC, Hyundai, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony, which have all been warned that language on their websites is in violation of U.S. laws. The letters were obtained by Motherboard via a Freedom of Information Act request. The letters state, "This letter places you on notice that violations of the Warranty and FTC Acts may result in legal action."...
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When it comes to electric vehicles, products from Tesla tend to suck all of the oxygen out of the room. After all, it's hard to argue with the good looks and forward-looking technology that's strewn throughout EV's like the Model S and Model 3. However, other manufacturers are quickly catching up, and Hyundai has just unveiled a new crossover EV that comes close to matching the endurance of the "Long Range" variant of the Model 3. The new Kona Electric looks quite similar to its gasoline-engine counterpart, but is available in two configurations. The base, short-range model has a 99 kW electric motor that is paired with a 39.2 kWh lithium-ion polymer battery pack. This combination is enough to...
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Honda has been rather hit of miss in recent years with its dedicated hybrid vehicles. The first-generation Insight was a spunky, CRX-esque two-seat hybrid that was incredibly efficient (up to 70 mpg), but not exactly a practical vehicle. Honda followed up with the second-generation Insight in 2009 (which looked like a warmed-over Prius) and the CR-Z, which was in essence the true successor for the first-generation Insight. Neither was a sales success, and both have since been discontinued. Now, Honda is ready to try again with a new dedicated hybrid vehicle, and it will once again bear the Insight nameplate. Given the body lines, glass, mirrors, and overall stance, there's no question that this...
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Artificially intelligent systems are becoming increasingly capable as companies like Amazon build in new functionality and team with partners for creative uses of these technologies. Case in point, Hyundai is the first automaker to launch an Alexa skill, allowing remote voice commands to control connected cars as part of its Geneses Connected Services. Hyundai's Genesis Connected Services links the Alexa service built into Amazon Echo, Tap, Echo Dot, and Fire TV with the Genesis G80 and G90 luxury sedans. The benefit for G80 and G90 owners is that they can bark out remote car commands from inside their home. It's not an arbitrary feature—whereas key fobs with remote start functionality let you...
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Hyundai Motor Group isn't just working on fancy new cars these days, it's also dabbling in robotics. It may have a bright future in the field, too—the automaker posted a handful of photos showing off a wearable robot suit that's not totally unlike the one Tony Stark built in Iron Man (minus the electromagnetic chest piece and ability to fly). The exoskeleton was a joint effort between Hyundai Motor Group, Hyundai Rotem Co., and Kia Motors. It's not clear exactly where the technology will end up, though Hyundai says its robot suits can be used in a wide variety of fields, including (but not limited to) production plants and national defense. "This wearable robot that we are developing for commercial...
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After initially promising that Apple CarPlay support would be made available in 2015 model year Sonata (which started arriving on dealer lots in late 2014), Hyundai failed to deliver. We’re now coming up on the closing days of 2015 and the CarPlay update is still nowhere to be found. So what the heck is going? Well, apparently the update has turned out to be a bigger endeavor for Hyundai, and the South Korean car company is now promising that it will make the updates available during Q1 2016, one year after it was originally planned. "Hyundai and Apple are committed to delivering drivers the best possible experience while using CarPlay in their vehicles," said Hyundai in a statement. "We are...
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Many have challenged Toyota’s dominant Prius, but none have come close to approaching its sales success. In fact, Toyota has upped the ante, expanding the family to include the Prius v and Prius c. And to top it off, Toyota just launched the fourth generation Prius, which brings with its unorthodox styling and increased fuel efficiency to fend off fresh competition. But don’t tell the to the folks at Hyundai. The company has probably the best chance yet at battling the Prius with its upcoming Ioniq hybrid hatchback. The South Korean automaker even has all of its bases covered, offering traditional hybrid, plug-in hybrid and all-electric versions of the vehicle. With that being said, spy photographers...
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Toyota turned quite a few heads when it launched the fourth generation Prius in September — and not in a good way. While the Prius could always be described a somewhat quirky, its styling was for the most part inoffensive. However, the company wanted to inject a lot more flare into the new model. "As a concept, we were thinking Lady Gaga,” said Chief Prius Designer Shunsaku Kodama. “We wanted to be more extreme in our design." The folks at Hyundai, however, are having none of that. The company is on the verge of releasing its first dedicated hybrid model, the Ioniq, for the U.S. market, and it wants to make sure that it appeals to as many people as possible. And if the teaser shot of the vehicle...
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Fully baked-in Android Auto support is officially kicking off today with Hyundai’s mainstream Sonata midsize sedan (third-party head units began supporting Android Auto earlier this year). Drivers of 2015 or newer Sonatas can take their vehicles to their nearest dealership to have their existing infotainment system updates to support Android Auto. If you prefer to perform the update yourself rather than step foot into a Hyundai service bay, customers will be able to perform the update on their own later this summer (presumably via a USB stick). There are a couple of prerequisites, however, before you can take advantage of Android Auto on your Sonata. For starters, the Sonata has to be equipped...
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If you were a fan of the 80s TV show Knight Rider, Hyundai hopes to bring up some old memories with the newest update for its cloud-based Blue Link telecommunications package. Blue Link allows Hyundai owners to perform a variety of tasks from a smartphone app including remote start and locking/unlocking doors. At CES 2015, Hyundai will launch a new Blue Link app that will be compatible with Android Wear-based smartwatches. The app communicates with the Blue Link mobile app on your smartphone using via Bluetooth and gives Hyundai owners the ability to access Blue Link functions from anywhere in the U.S. as long as they have an Internet connection. All Blue Link functions can be accessed...
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