FAR EAST: SOUTH KOREA REPORT
The Hyundai Motor Group and telecommunications giant KT have formed a capital and business alliance. The two companies will invest about 750 billion won in each other by exchanging their shares.
The two companies will jointly develop communication-related technologies to produce autonomous driving equipment. In addition to automobiles, Hyundai Motor is expanding its business in the fields of robotics and urban air transportation (UAM, or flying cabs), and has decided that partnering with KT will enable it to accelerate research and development in fields other than automobiles.
Alliances between automobile and telecommunications giants are a global trend. Toyota Motor and NTT have formed a capital and business alliance, and General Motors (GM) and AT&T have announced a series of tie-ups.
Source: The Nikkei
PSR Analysis: The two companies will first jointly develop a 6G communication standard optimized for the operation of self-driving vehicles. As for the satellite based AAM communication infrastructure, Hyundai Motor Group will be in charge of developing the AAM vehicle and constructing the vertical takeoff and landing port, while KT will build the control and communication network essential for AAM operation using its own communication satellites.
Meanwhile, the Korean government has embarked on building the communications infrastructure necessary for the operation of automated vehicles and plans to launch eight satellites by 2035. The core of the project is to develop a navigation system with centimeter-level accuracy beyond the metric level, and it will be interesting to see how fast these actions penetrate the market in Korea, where the IT culture is mature. PSR
By Akihiro Komuro is Research Analyst, Far East and Southeast Asia, for Power Systems Research
