Hyundai Motor and Unity of the U.S. have signed a MOU to jointly design and build a new metaverse roadmap and platform for Meta-Factory. 

Unity is one of the world’s leading platforms for creating and operating real-time 3D contents  

Under the terms of the deal, Unity will serve as a strategic partner to support and implement Hyundai’s vision of becoming a leader in future mobility solutions, helping the Korean automotive maker to build Meta-Factory in what the car maker said is the world’s first ever.

The partnership also involves sharing ideas and architectures to build smart manufacturing, AI training and study as well as autonomous driving simulation.

The Meta-Factory is a sort of digital-twin of an actual factory, running on a metaverse platform.

The introduction of a Meta-Factory will allow Hyundai to test-run a factory virtually in order to calculate the optimized plant operation, and enable plant managers to solve problems without having to physically visit the plant. 

Welcome to Brave New World

The partnership will also culminate in the creation of a real-time 3D and virtual platform which will cover a broad reach of Hyundai customers, offering them a more comprehensive range of services across sales, marketing, and customer experience.

The real-time 3D solution will allow consumers to virtually and digitally try, test and engage into various auto related solutions in the meta-world long before they make decisions to buy physical vehicles.

HMGICS, or Hyundai Group Innovation Center will be the first test facility to implement the Meta-Factory concept, paving the way for Hyundai Motor Group to initiate its vision for Expanding Human Reach witt Robotics’.  

To be completed at the end of 2022, HMGICS is a future-proof role model factory that is now under construction in Singapore show how Hyundai’s next generation of smart factory will look.

Digitalizing all of its operations around IoT, 5G, robotics, meta-world of VR and AR, the center will act as a test bed for a human-centered intelligent manufacturing platform with small scale EV production facility on site.

World’s Fist Meta Factory in Singapore

The facility will utilize the latest ‘Industry 4.0’ smart technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and robotics. The logistics and assembly lines within HMGICS will be highly automated to establish a safe and efficient work environment.

The Group will also test versatile systems that produce multiple models, to respond efficiently to fast changing market environments.

On the top of that, the center also will explore new business concepts, including BaaS (battery-as-a-service) in order to enhance customers’ experiences of EV ownership.

HMGICS will be home to the Group’s R&D experts from around the world, including members of the Hyundai CRADLE innovation hub and AI Research (AIR) Center.

Affiliate companies such as Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai Autoever, Hyundai WIA, Hyundai Rotem and Hyundai Transys will also take part in HMGICS.

The building will also feature a landing port for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) as well as solar panels, providing the site with clean renewable energy.

The center will gradually expand its use of renewable energy to eventually use fuel cell as a power supply to minimize emissions from power generation.

Sky Track -Sky Is Limits    

The meta-factory is part of the big picture, too, as the facility will allow customers to customize and purchase vehicles online using a smartphone, which will immediately start production using Hyundai’s on-demand technology.

The customers can then watch their car being manufactured at HMGICS. Once the car is ready for delivery, it will be transferred to the 620-meter-long Sky Track where customers can test drive the vehicle. Sky Track will sit atop HMGICS’ state-of-the-art seven-story innovation lab located at the Jurong Innovation District (JID).

JID enables how organizations collaborate – by bringing the various nodes of the advanced manufacturing ecosystem together, into a single district to create a one-stop advanced manufacturing hub.

“HMGICS will become a manufacturing innovation “game changer” through this world class Meta-Factory collaboration”, said President Chi, “And HMGICS will lead the future innovation by introducing various technologies that will transform mobility paradigm through human-centered value chain innovation.”

Hyundai and Unity will seek ways to expand the partnership in order to realize breakthrough innovations in metaverse-based digital twin factory, while also expanding collaborating in the fields of AI training and study as well as autonomous driving simulation.

Hyundai will also continue to pursue active partnership opportunities with other global partners such as Microsoft in order to further accelerate advancement of smart factory.

“Real-time digital twins will permanently change how we live, work, shop and make a positive impact on our planet, representing a significant component of what is often referred to as the metaverse,” said John Riccitiello, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Unity.

“Hyundai’s vision for the future, including the digital twin of factory operations, represents a significant technological step forward in manufacturing with unlimited potential in its efficiency.”

Hyundai shared its vision for ‘Expanding Human Reach’ with robotics and the metaverse at CES 2022 held at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, running from Jan. 5-8.

At the event, Hyundai Motor has presented its vision of how robotics will complete the metaverse by connecting the virtual world with reality as a medium, and eventually overcome the physical limitations of movement regarding time and space.