HMG Showcases Smart City During World Smart City Expo 2024
Back in 2022, the Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) debuted its Smart City Concept during the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Since then, however, we haven’t heard much about this revolutionary idea of how to change and build new city infrastructure in years. HMG decided to change that when it chose to participate for the first time in the World Smart City Expo 2024 (WSCE). Its entry? A showcase of human-centered smart city solutions.
The WSCE is a global expo where the latest technologies, policies, and solutions for potential smart city concepts and ideas are shared and discussed. So, the Smart City isn’t some futuristic sci-fi dream by one organization. Several names are out there, and the WSCE is going on eight years with sponsorship of the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Ministry of Science and ICT. The showcase by HMG was split into three parts throughout a 900-square-meter exhibition hall. Three themes were apparent: Transportation, Logistics and Robotics, and Energy and Infrastructure.
Transportation puts a major focus on personal mobility, able to keep people active with physical disabilities or challenges. On display was DICE (Digital Curated Experience), a personal mobility platform that provides customized services through software technology optimized by artificial intelligence (AI) through a three-sided display – it sounds a little like virtual reality (VR). After the HMG created Supernal, in charge of its advanced air mobility (AAM) projects, the S-A2 next-generation airframe was also unveiled, able to reach an altitude of 400-500 meters and fly at a cruising speed of 120 mph. A SPACE-Mobility public system illustrated a public transportation system designed to give anyone mobility with optimized space and customized seats for a variety of conditions, including wheelchairs, micro-mobility devices, pets, etc.
The Logistics and Robotics zone was dedicated to some purpose-built vehicle (PBV) demos we’ve seen in the past. For instance, an automated transportation system that drives itself, the City Pod is an unmanned, large logistics mobility device that can be used for public transportation, waste transportation, hydrogen energy transportation, and the transportation/delivery of industrial raw materials. PBVs, now called “Platform-Based Vehicles” by the Kia Corp are vehicles that use EasySwap technology so any vehicle can be an office, luxury limousine, camper, etc. at any time.
We’ve already seen the automatic charging robot from HMG, but what about a Parking Robot that lifts and parks vehicles on its own? Able to move in any direction, the robot can park vehicles, even in narrow spaces, to avoid human error.
For the Energy and Infrastructure zone, the hall comes with a park exhibit that illustrates the HMG vision for a smart city. Imagine Central Park, a large park in the heart of a city, but the park makes up 70-percent of New York, New York with buildings erected around and in it. That’s the idea of a Smart City, where people can stroll amidst abundant greenery, showing a harmony between city living and nature. An infographic comes with an image of a sustainable future city based on hydrogen energy. All of this together, HMG plans to build a smart city platform urban environment that seamlessly connects mobility solutions to infrastructure – so, a large train or subway network? That’s kind of how it sounds, but I assume something like city pods or hubs used for entertainment and leisure, not just different parts of the city. We’ve seen such concepts in other videos by HMG and PBVs.
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