Driving Deeper into Digital Success: Hyundai & Adobe Experience Manager

In the global race of motoring manufacturers, there are few that can outperform Hyundai. In fact, it is the fifth largest manufacturer of vehicles in the world, with an annual rate of 6.69 million produced last year.

Hyundai also operates the largest automobile manufacturing facility in the world, in South Korea, which churns out approximately 1.6 million units a year.

These cars are sold and shipped across 193 countries via dealerships and showrooms in around 5,000 places.

“Hyundai” is Korean that literally means “modernity” and this not only is tied to its car capabilities but its vision as a brand in general. Being at the forefront of modernity means uniting a vision with technology that can drive you into the future as a leader in industry.

And one core part of this in the automotive industry is navigation technology. 

Classic cars reliably and safely transport people and goods from A to B; modern cars also do this while being personal assistants and entertainers. The mechanics of a car and its digital components have fused in the car of today.

One of the offshoots of Hyundai is Hyundai MNSOFT, a vehicle infotainment company, which builds core tech for self-driving cars such as HD maps called ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) as well as 3D navigation software.

 It also worked on connected cars that are plugged into the internet to provide wayfinding, entertainment, music, and audio content. 

So how does it manage all of this varied and broad content? 

“Given our product’s global availability, we have to take a variety of platforms into consideration,” said Eun-Soo Kim, team leader of design at Hyundai MNSOFT. “Regional specification requirements have also become complicated.

“To release a new navigation system to the market, we need to collaborate and communicate with a variety of teams – be it internal or external – including car manufacturers, system providers, designers, developers, and third-party vendors. Also, we have to be able to share results with all the designers.”

This means that it’s critical to keep design data up-to-date. “Data modified by many designers should be reflected as current data,” said Hee-Kyoung Son, senior researcher there. “But there were limitations on sharing data through our local server. We would spend a lot of time reviewing data and manually making requests to the team members who were responsible for finding out where the latest data was. We were not able to review the results in real time.”

The most critical challenge was to build a centralized hub that enabled easy access to add, manage, and update map designs in real time.

That is why Hyundai MNSOFT onboarded Adobe Experience Manager (AEM).

For 2 years they carried out tests and weighed the advantages and disadvantages of multiple solutions to discover which one could meet their high standards. And that was AEM.

In the past, designers stored their images on separate computers because of their large file sizes. Siloed spaces of key information is rarely a good thing. This meant delays to the completion of requests. With AEM, they had an integrated storage system that facilitated teamwork and the synchronization of files – freeing up work efficiency.

“While many companies deal with files that are heavily text-based, Hyundai MNSOFT works with files that contain a lot of design images, posing a challenge,” said Kyung Hoon Lee, GM of business development at the consultancy in which Hyundai worked with. “We are excited that we were able to participate in deploying a successful asset management solution for Hyundai MNSOFT.”

Generally, it takes a handful of years to introduce a completely new model to market. “During the launch cycle,” added Eun-Soo, “it is very important for a design team to manage all the history associated with design specifications. Since our product is very closely related to driver safety, the importance of asset management is paramount. Adobe Experience Manager Assets helps us better manage design history and specifications.”

So what’s the future for car innovation when it comes to Hyundai? “As connected cars and self-driving cars emerge as cars for the future,” added Eun-Soo, “the navigation system will play a role as an in-car hub that delivers a new experience, beyond just a wayfinding tool.

“In the future, navigation services are expected to evolve into a totally different form of information services. In this sense, Adobe Experience Manager will be a stepping stone to innovative in-car experiences through navigation.”

PS: ArganoUV is one of the world’s leading AEM agencies. Contact us to see how we can work together.