Samsung, Hyundai Deepen Ties From Cars to Robots

The partnership between Samsung and Hyundai Motor Group is moving past a simple buyer-seller relationship for components, reflecting a fundamental shift in the automotive industry. As cars increasingly integrate advanced electronics, requiring sophisticated chips, sensors, and battery technologies, the distinction between an automobile and an electronic device is blurring. This necessitates a more integrated approach to technology development, moving from discrete parts supply to collaborative design and architecture.

The expanded cooperation addresses areas like software-defined vehicles (SDVs), which rely heavily on electronic devices and communication technology for their functions. Samsung's strengths in chips, batteries, and displays directly meet the core requirements for such vehicles, while Hyundai Motor Group provides expertise in automobile manufacturing, autonomous driving, and robotics. This complementary structure allows Samsung to expand into new automotive markets and Hyundai to enhance its future vehicle competitiveness.

Cooperation also extends into "physical AI," a technology where artificial intelligence recognizes and makes judgments about real-world spaces to move robots or machines. Self-driving cars and robots share many foundational components, including sensors, chips, and batteries. This overlap creates opportunities to combine Samsung's electronics and component technology with Hyundai's robot development capabilities, building on existing collaborations like the memorandum of understanding for robot battery development signed in February last year.