Hyder says it wants to connect with real world

A Hyundai booth displays the company logo at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Reuters- Hyundai Motor Co envisions an interactive and partly virtual future in which a variety of robotic devices interact with humans to provide a wide range of mobility services, from automated individual transportation to remote control of robots in smart factories.

Hyundai executives, led by Chief Executive Euisun Chung, elaborated on that vision in a media briefing at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Hyundai hopes to build out a future mobility network that connects human beings with objects and tasks in the virtual world through its growing expertise in robotics and artificial intelligence.

The concept is related to the so-called metaverse, a term coined by author Neal Stephenson 30 years ago, but gained attention recently when Facebook changed its name to Meta Platforms Inc. It refers to shared virtual world environments that people can access via the internet, and can make use of virtual reality or augmented reality.

Hyundai offers several examples of how it might link the metaverse and the real world:

A vehicle that can be transformed into a work space or entertainment room with a 3 D video game platform.

A smart factory where humans outside the plant remotely control robots that interact with machines and products inside the plant.

Automated personal transportation devices for people with disabilities or individuals who want to maintain social distances while traveling.

The automaker said it was building a Mobility of Things ecosystem that will link modular robotic platforms to perform different mobility services.

One module called Plug Drive or PnD is a single-wheel robotics platform that combines intelligent steering, braking and suspension with in-wheel electric drive, cameras and lidar sensors for automated operation.

For larger logistics tasks and other mobility services, Hyundai can bundle four PnD modules, including one application that pairs with a robot dog called - what else?