Hyundai Motor Unveils Future Technology Animation Series: "Airbags in the Autonomous Driving Era?"

The First Video in the Series: Built-in Seat 'Hug Airbag' for Autonomous Driving Preparation

Hyundai Motor Company released a future technology animation series on the 12th, presenting the first video featuring the seat-integrated omnidirectional 'Hug Airbag' designed for the autonomous driving era. (Photo by Hyundai Motor Company)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Hyundai Motor Company unveiled its "Future Technology Animation Series," showcasing the evolution of future mobility where electrification and autonomous driving become commonplace, on the 12th. The first video introduced in this series is the seat-integrated "Hug Airbag" designed for the autonomous driving era.

This animation series will be produced to allow viewers to easily and enjoyably explore various future mobility scenarios through animations, featuring Hyundai's patented technologies, ideas from researchers and developers, and technologies currently under preliminary research.

The first Hug Airbag video introduces a new concept airbag technology applied to ensure safety in future mobility during the autonomous driving era. It contains Hyundai's ideas on how airbags should be developed when seat arrangements become flexible in the fully autonomous driving era. The Hug Airbag concept started from the idea, "What if there were balloon-like airbags that wrap around the entire body in unexpected collision accidents?" and is currently under technological development. It is embedded in the seat and deploys in a way that embraces the passenger, hence the English term "Hug" was used.

In the actual development process of the Hug Airbag technology, Hyundai has filed seven patents in major domestic and international countries, covering optimized cushion structures and efficient designs of inner and outer tethers (string-like components that maintain the airbag shape and support passenger weight). The company plans to enhance the completeness of the technology through various verification evaluations to apply it to Level 4-5 autonomous vehicles in the future.

Through subsequent series, Hyundai plans to introduce ideas applicable to future mobility, such as cars directly connected to homes and used as part of the living room space, and new concept cars that can be freely replaced like blocks.

A Hyundai Motor Company official stated, "As the field of future mobility technology development diversifies, technologies once imagined are rapidly becoming reality. We planned this series to introduce the future Hyundai envisions to customers first and to stimulate the creativity and imagination of children who will lead future society."