Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has chosen four in house startup companies to be spun off this year as part of its effort to help unlock value in emerging high tech and future technology companies, according to local reports.
HMG, encompassing automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Corporation, has so far fostered 76 new companies under its in house startup “incubation” programme now called ZERO1NE Company Builder. The programme was set up in 2000 under the name of Venture Plaza and has so far spun off 30 companies.
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Under the incubation programme, a promising startup is given up to KRW300m (US$227,000) in development funds and one year to develop and commercialise its technology and/or services, after which a decision is made on whether to continue to fund it.
This year HMG plans to spin off companies focused on an autonomous driving and artificial intelligence (AI) among other technology, including MOBINN, SURFF, APLAYS and CaREDIT.
The MOBINN startup develops self driving robots for local deliveries which can move up and down stairs and use Lidar and cameras to make door to door deliveries.
SURFF Company operates a platform that enables logistics companies to find available cargo space for shipping in real time, helping to ease cargo disruption and optimitise shipping loads.
APLAYS is a developer of AI powered music apps which suggests and plays music based on the surrounding environment, time of day and weather conditions in real time.
CaREDIT has a platform that predicts the lifetime of auto parts and their future maintenance costs by analysing vehicle maintenance history data.
