Hyundai Motor Group have announced the launch of their industry-first ‘smartphone-electric vehicle pairing based performance adjustment technology,’ which offers remote functionality for their electric cars on a level that simply doesn’t exist in the automotive sphere right now. This is innovation at its finest.
Hyundai already offers one of the most complete electric cars on the market with their IONIQ, but Hyundai Motor Group aren’t slowing down with their innovation, and have shifted their attention to smartphone compatibility and a particularly promising new app.
Drivers will have the ability to use smartphone-based controls to remotely adjust up to seven performance features of their cars. This includes setting a maximum torque output, controlling the ignition, monitoring acceleration and deceleration rates, adjusting regenerative braking capacity, setting a maximum speed limit and much more.
Electric vehicles are progressively conquering the world, and their popularity will rise exponentially in the coming years undoubtedly. EVs are also hugely popular with car-sharing services and rental industries, and this technology will prove to be hugely popular for frequent users who will be able to set up their ‘driver profile’ and download it to whichever model they are driving, tailoring the experience to the user.
There’s more. The app has the ability to optimise the cars power output and efficiency depending on the desired destination. The app can analyse the journey ahead and adjust where power is allocated to maximise the battery life and achievable distance. The app can also be fine-tuned to accommodate more ‘spirited’ driving styles for when the time is right.
Another functionality of the app is that users can upload their driver settings to the internet for other drivers to test and experiment with, and the driver can also use the recommended settings of other drivers. The manufacturer will, over time, recommend the settings that best suit certain roads and conditions based on data collected from users.
Blockchain technology, which is the incredibly complex infrastructure which is used to host cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, will be used to ensure that all driver data is stored and hosted extremely securely. This works as an encryption method that will mean driver data is stored in separate ‘blocks’ in different locations across the server, making the data useless if it is ever compromised.
Hyundai Motor Group researcher JeongSoo Eo stated: “As Hyundai Motor Group is planning to deploy 44 eco-friendly models by the year 2025, including 23 electric vehicles, we see the potential of technologies and services inherent in non-combustion vehicles,”
“By developing paradigm-shifting mobility technology like this one, we will continue to strive to improve the user experience for electric vehicles customised to individual preferences.”
All of this technology is still a short while away from being rolled out to the public, but it is thought that it will soon be available for all future Hyundai and KIA models.