Hyundai, Kia unveil new automobile technologies

Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors unveiled a new automobile technology Wednesday at the 10th R&D Motor Show held at their research center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. The latest technology enables a camera to identify a person driving while drowsy, makes vibration and alert sounds to wake him or her up. When the driver stands in front of a trunk carrying a luggage, the lid opens automatically. The show, which displays the research center`s development achievements to the employees of Hyundai and Kia and their suppliers, as well as the general public, will last until Saturday.

This year`s R&D motor show displayed 116 vehicles including 71 of Hyundai and Kia cars, 35 vehicles of rival carmakers and 10 concept cars developed by researchers. Among them, 16 showed the internal of car body. The products displayed amount to 4 billion won (3.75 U.S. million dollars) worth of new vehicles.

○ New technologies unveiled

Newest technologies of Hyundai and Kia to be applied on their new vehicles have been released. The biggest attention was on the 3.8-liter gasoline direct injection engine for four-wheel drive cars to be embedded on Hyundai`s new sedan Genesis, which will be released at the year-end. Hyundai says the engine enables greater stability on wet, snowy and rough roads.

Hyundai`s new materials to be applied on next-generation rear-wheel drive super cars have been also unveiled. The carmaker will use a carbon fiber reinforced plastic on the car`s roofs of a high-performance model, which is being developed at a test center in Nürburgring, Germany. The material weighs just half of a steel product and thus raises car performance and fuel efficiency.

The show also displayed "smart trunk," a trunk that automatically opens when a person stands in front of it with baggage. U.S. carmaker Ford has a similar function called "kick sensor": when a person places his or her foot on the bottom part of the car`s exterior back, the sensor recognizes it and opens the trunk. Hyundai`s technology is an advancement of Ford`s. Hyundai`s partially changed i40 model to be released next month will employ "smart trunk" and some of the following models will also adopt it.

A 2-liter gasoline direct injection turbo engine to be applied on Hyundai`s next Sonata model and Kia`s Sorrento model that will go on sale next year are also being displayed. This engine has 4 percent higher fuel efficiency compared to older engines and response speed of accelerator pedal has also been enhanced.

A drowsy driving prevention system currently under development for mass production in 2015 has been also exhibited. This system identifies a driver`s state through internal infrared light camera and makes alert sounds.

○ Future car ideas also presented

Hyundai and Kia car researchers have displayed creativity through concept cars. "Idea Festival," a side-line exhibition, unveiled "Axis," a single-person "X-shape" car. The car is bendable enabling easy parking at narrow spaces. Other inventions include a robot that lifts and moves a car for the driver, and a supplementary device for people with uncomfortable body.

At a rival carmaker booth, Volkswagen`s Golf and Toyota`s Abalone have been exhibited as a "tear down" format, which has been disassembled the internal to identify structure of rival cars` frame."

At a R&D supplier tech event held on the sidelines, 32 primary and second-tier supplier companies in various sectors including car body, design, power train, environment-friendly cars, displayed 57 advanced technologies, including 18 world-first new technologies, 36 Korea-first technologies and three new technologies developed and applied by the automakers.