Dystopian DrivingRobot BoresHyundai Motor’s Vision of New Metamobility Concept,‘Expanding Human Reach’ through Robotics & MetaverseWhich features no cars in the street scenes, just sinister pods androbot dogs. Here is what’s going to happen to us if we let themget away with it...12 freecarmag.com1412
Porsche 911 TurboWIGUnder the main theme of ‘Expanding HumanReach, Hyundai Motor’s presentations reflectedhow the company’s robotics business will drive theparadigm shift towards future mobility, going beyond thetraditional means of transportation to fulfill unlimitedfreedom of movement for humankind.Robotics is an essential part of Hyundai Motor’stransformation into a smart mobility solution provider.Having acquired Boston Dynamics, aninnovatorinthefield, Hyundai Motor has sharpened its focus onadvancing robotics to enhance people’s lives through arange of mobility solutions. The company sees roboticsand mobility as complementary in that one acceleratesdevelopment of the other, and vice versa. Together, theyform a synergistic combination that will add value to thebusiness and drive progress for humanity, starting with arobotics-based Mobility of Things (MoT) ecosystem.In support of its future vision for robotics andmobility, the company revealed its new concept of‘Metamobility’, with the goal of pioneering a smart devicemetaverseconnection that will expand the role of mobilityto virtual reality (VR), ultimately allowing people toovercome the physical limitations of movement in timeand space. Hyundai Motor also shared its vision of howrobots will act as a medium between the real world andvirtual spaces, enabling users to make changes in themetaverse to be reflected in reality.The company envisions that the distinctionsbetween future mobilities will be blurred through thefurther development of robotics technology, such as AIand autonomous driving. Diverse mobilities, includingautomobiles and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) will also serveas smart devices for access to the metaverse platform.At Hyundai, we are harnessing the power of robotics toachieve great things. We envision future mobilitysolutions made possible by advanced robotics — evenexpanding our mobility solutions to Metamobility,” saidEuisun Chung, the Group’s Executive Chair, during hispresentation. “This vision will enable unlimited freedom ofmovement and progress for humanity.”Connecting real-world movement wit temetavere via root and etamoilitDuring Hyundai Motors’ CES presentation,Hyundai Motor Group President and Head ofTransportation-as-a-Service (TaaS) Division Chang Songand Microsoft Corporate Vice President Ulrich Homannjoined Boston Dynamics’ Marc Raibert to discuss themetaverse and Metamobility.With the metaverse set to become a daily spacefor people in the future, the company expects thepossible emergence of a new type of metaverse platformin which the distinction from reality could disappear,breaking away from the concept of VR as the worldknows it today.Hyundai Motor expects that mobilities, such asautomobiles and UAM, will serve as smart devices toaccess virtual spaces, while robotics will act as a mediumto connect the virtual and real worlds. For example, anautomobile that connects to virtual spaces can allowusers to enjoy various in-car VR experiences. Dependingon the user’s needs, a car can be transformed into anentertainment space, a meeting room for work or even afreecarmag.com 13