Hyundai Mobis (KRX:012330) is currently entering the market for digital clusters, a field which is on the rise as a driving information display solution for autonomous cars. For this, Hyundai Mobis produced a cluster equipped with a 7" display and applied it to Hyundai Kona EV. The company is also aiming to induce the development of a next-generation cockpit optimized for the era of autonomous driving.

By entering the market, it is striving to actively respond to future car technologies such as autonomous driving and connectivity and enable them to become new growth drivers while focusing on developing infotainment and ICT parts.

Hyundai Mobis has worked on developing a cluster, which is a core part of the cockpit to secure competitiveness in Level 4 autonomous driving. The company had successfully developed a large 12.3" cluster in 2015, and this year, it started to mass-produce a 7" cluster in just three years from then.

Based on such global competitiveness, it will aggressively carry out sales efforts targeting global automakers as well as domestic ones, developing the digital cluster as a key export item.

The cluster market is rapidly changing from analog to digital

A cluster is a dashboard that displays driving information items such as speed, mileage and alerts. It is an essential part of the cockpit designed to connect the driver with the vehicle. In the era of autonomous driving and connectivity, a cluster is getting increasingly important in step with the sharp increase in driving and traffic data to be provided to drivers. On that note, analog clusters are being replaced quickly by digital clusters which can effectively display large amounts of data.

Developing next-generation infotainment platform based on digital clusters

The 7" digital cluster that Hyundai Mobis started to mass produce this time was developed based on AUTOSAR, a standard platform for automotive software. It delivers improved visibility with a high resolution (1280x720) display. Hyundai Mobis is widely seen as having elevated its aptitude in developing proprietary core technologies; for example, it succeeded in developing CPU software on its own.

By starting mass production of the cluster, following (1) head-up display (HUD), (2) surround view monitoring (SVM) and (3) audio/video/navigation (AVN), Hyundai Mobis has now come to secure all of the four core infotainment technologies. It is known that there are only a few global automotive suppliers who have acquired all of the four core infotainment technologies.

With this, Hyundai Mobis has laid the foundation for situating itself in a more competitive position for developing next-generation cockpits optimized for autonomous driving and connectivity. The next-generation cockpit delivers a set of various infotainment features in a single large cluster screen by integrating HUD, SVM and AVN with the digital cluster.

"Global automotive suppliers and IT firms are competing for developing next-generation cockpits for autonomous cars with their differentiated strategies," stated Yang Seung-wook, Director of Hyundai Mobis ICT Research Center. "We aim to pull ahead of the competition for developing next-generation cockpits by developing an integrated platform to simultaneously control the four core infotainment parts by the first half of next year."

At this year's CES, Hyundai Mobis presented various future car displays applied to a next-generation cockpit, which reflects user experience. More specifically, it showcased a total of four displays placed respectively on the cluster, steering wheel, room mirror and console box.