​​​Hyundai Motor Company has just become a member of ITU's standardization arm (ITU-T), underscoring the importance of increased collaboration between the automotive and information and communication technology (ICT) industries in an era of rapid convergence.

Hyundai's participation in ITU will support the company in building its "hyper-connected intelligent cars" platform, which includes smart remote-maintenance services, autonomous driving, smart traffic flow, and a connected "mobility hub" to provide security and data management for connected cars.

"Hyundai Motors is looking forward to participating in ITU and will bring important momentum from the automotive industry to advance the future of connected car technology," said Eon Youl Shin, Director, Hyundai.

Hyundai's membership comes as ITU ramps up efforts to provide a unique, global platform for automotive-ICT collaboration – which has already sparked the development of a range of ITU standards tailored to the automotive industry.

Accelerating ITU standardization work in this arena has led to fresh interest from other major carmakers as they, too, see the strong business case to join ITU to influence the development of connected-car standards.

Intelligent transport systems

As a new member, Hyundai will support the coordinated development of intelligent transport systems that will improve passenger experience, road safety and reduce traffic congestion and emissions.

"ITU is well placed to encourage the public-private partnerships required to improve road safety," said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. "Joining the ITU membership, Hyundai has entered the company of governments, industry players and academic and research institutes working together to build cohesion in ICT innovation."

ITU will host discussions on the status and future of intelligent transport systems at the world-famous Geneva International Motor Show as key players in the ICT and auto industries present their latest intelligent-transport innovations on 9 March 2017 at the Symposium of the Future Networked Car, an event growing in importance as ITU's automotive-related standards work increases in pace.

"Standardization will be essential in building a trusted ecosystem of intelligent vehicles," said Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau. "ITU standardization work is supporting the increasing integration of ICTs in vehicles with road safety and data security as our top priorities."

Assisting the auto industry achieve its ICT ambitions

ITU provides common technical platforms to assist the automotive industry in achieving its ICT ambitions.

The ITU World Radiocommunication Conference 2015 allocated radio-frequency spectrum in the 79 GHz frequency band to the operation of short-range, high-resolution automotive radar.  

ITU standards provide specifications for radiocommunications between cars and infrastructure, as well as tests to assess the performance of mobile phones when connected as gateways to vehicles' hands-free systems. An ITU standard for secure over-the-air software updates for connected cars is expected to be approved in early 2017, and new ITU standards are under development to reduce technology-related driver distraction. 

ITU continues to see key results emerging from its collaboration with the UNECE Transport Division, the body responsible for global vehicle regulations, which now looks to ITU to provide communications performance standards in support of vehicle regulations. The new global regulation on vehicle emergency calls, "Automatic Emergency Call Systems", will reference an ITU-T voice-quality performance standard.

About Hyundai Motor Group

Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Group is the world's fifth-largest automaker and includes over two dozen auto-related subsidiaries and affiliates. Hyundai Motor Group, which exported its first independently-made vehicle, the Pony, in 1976, now sells over 800 million vehicles ranging from sedans, SUVs, trucks and buses. Hyundai Motor Group is South Korea's largest automaker with a market share of approximately 60 percent. Internationally, the company has operations in over 200 countries through 5,300 car dealers. Employing over 262,463 people worldwide, Hyundai Motor Group is implementing a new global policy aimed at localization. Currently Hyundai Motor Group has 35 plants in 10 countries. Hyundai Motor Group today has a combined global production capacity of approximately 8 million units a year (Korea Domestic: 3 million / Overseas: 5 million).