Kia Motors Corporation and Hyundai Motor Company have debuted a new virtual reality (VR) design evaluation system at the brands’ global design headquarters. The new system, introduced to the Namyang Research and Development Center in South Korea, demonstrates a heightened focus on enhancing vehicle development processes through the implementation of VR technology.
Kia and Hyundai displayed how new VR technology will be utilised by both brands in future. The technology uses several development applications, enabling teams of designers and engineers to carry out vehicle design quality assessments and development verification processes.
The technology is part of a KRW 15 billion (US $12.8 million) investment in the Namyang Research and Development Center announced by Kia and Hyundai in March 2019. Through the complete implementation of the virtual development processes throughout R&D and pre-production stages, Kia and Hyundai anticipates a 20 per cent reduction in vehicle development times and a 15 per cent reduction in annual development costs.
“The virtual development process is a necessary step for responding quickly and reacting with agility to the needs of customers and paradigm shifts within the automotive industry,” said Albert Biermann, Head of Research and Development Division for Hyundai Motor Group. “Through reinforced virtual processes, we will enhance quality and profitability, ultimately increasing investment in R&D to secure competitiveness in future mobility.”
In addition to reducing development costs, these new virtual technologies are expected to increase profitability and trigger a cycle of continuously increasing R&D investment for Kia and Hyundai.
Kia and Hyundai established a new design quality verification system using VR in March 2019, utilising three-dimensional Computer Aided Design (CAD) data collected from every stage of the vehicle development process to assess the quality of each design in virtual environments. The VR design quality verification system is capable of 100 per cent accuracy equivalents; previous digital assessments were limited to two-dimensional analysis and did not permit detailed performance evaluations.
