Hyundai Motor Connected Car Owners to be Allowed to Watch Tving Content

(from left) President Lee Myung-han of Tving, Executive Vice President Chu Kyo-eung of Hyundai Motor and Lim Sang-yeop, head of CJ ENM’s managment support division, pose after they signed an MOU on mutual cooperation on the provision of vehicular OTT content services on Dec. 7. (Photos: Hyundai Motor)

Hyundai Motor Group has teamed up with CJ ENM and Tving to develop infotainment for vehicles.

From now on, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors motorists will be able to appreciate the latter’s original content, such as “Transferring Love” and “Work Later, Drink Now.”

Hyundai Motor Group is predicted to take on Tesla, which has joined forces with Neflix in the connected car segment.

The automaker group said on Dec. 7 it struck an MOU on mutual cooperation on the provision of vehicular OTT content services with CJ ENM’s Tving. CJ ENM is an entertainment unit of CJ Group. Tving is an OTT content subsidiary of CJ ENM.

A Hyundai Motor Group official said the group will ramp up the competitiveness of the connected car services by offering films, live channels and other diverse OTT content.

Under the tripartite deal, the parties will build OTT platforms to offer OTT content. Hyundai Motor Group will cooperate in carrying Tving’s OTT content to connected cars’ infortainment platforms.

CJ ENM will produce and supply OTT content while Tving will be charged with providing user experiences (UXs) corresponding to Hyundai Motor Group’s connected cars.

Executive Vice President Choo Gyo-woong of Hyundai Motor Group said, “Connected cars will be expected to provide not only diverse OTT content, but also new infotainment experiences.”

Hyundai Motor is expanding connected car services in diverse areas, including infotainment. Connected cars, outfield with telecom modules, can be connected to share internet and data with car outside and inside, infrastructure and outside systems.

Earlier, Hyundai Motor has already developed the software platform for connected cars, dubbed “the Connected Car Operating System (ccOS).”

The Korean connected car market is on a sharp rise. Figures, released by Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), showed that connected cars now stand at 3.64 million, and predicted to surge to 5 million cars year-end.

Tesla is a front-runner in the global connected car market. Under an agreement, signed with Netflix, Tesla owners have been allowed to watch Netflix content on touchscreens of Tesla EVs since 2019 when they parked. Global automakers have begun to offer over-the-air software updates, including auto-pilot updates for self-driving.

Global automakers have been aggressively investing into connected cars. Geely Auto of China has decided to implement a project to produce fully connected cars by investing about $50 million under a deal with ECARX, an automotive intelligence technology solutions provider. Toyota has applied connected car telecom systems to Lexus NX for the first time in recent four years.

Ford of the United States plans to employ new connected services to Explorer, its cross-over utility vehicle (CUV), to be released by 2023.

GM is offering its connectivity platform “OnStar” to more than 16 million connected cars. The automaker plans to raise the number to 30 million units a decade later.

British BBC Top Gear Magazine announced that Hyundai Motor and “i20 N” had been designated as the Manufacturer of the Year and the Car of the Year at the 2021 Top Gear Magazine Award ceremony. An image of Hyundai Motor’s i20 N.