Hyundai Motor Company has increased a free trial period of its connected car service “Blue Link”, which is provided when a consumer purchases a new car, from five years to ten years. Although few options will be limited during the extra five years, free trial of ten years is an unprecedented step. It is likely that the company has taken this step in order to increase number of cars that collect data and to strengthen its competitive edge in future cars as it prepares for arrival of an era of autonomous vehicles.
According to the company on Monday, the company has added Light service to Blue Link and launched “five year free +” plan. Basically, free trial period of Blue Link when a new car is purchased has increased from five years to “five + five years”.
Blue Link provides services such as remote control, safety security, car maintenance, and navigation. Prior to Hyundai’s recent decision, it was difficult to collect information when owners of the company’s cars did not convert to a paid service after their free trial was completed.
Although the company’s new service will be limited to traffic information, emergency service, notification of automatic airbag inflation, and monthly report, it will continue to provide bidirectional communication through mobile network such as LTE.
Hyundai Motor Company collects information related to history of its products such as driving, location, and other services through Blue Link. With information, it is able to improve quality of services provided by its products.
Prime example is navigation. By using real-time traffic information and predicted traffic information, Blue Link helps drivers to avoid congested areas.
It is possible to collect information through the pre-installed navigation system. It is easier to collect information through a pre-installed system rather than a mobile navigation app that needs to be turned on every time. Hyundai plans to expand members of its connected car service and continue to strengthen competitive edge in the service before an era of autonomous vehicles begins officially.
In the future, it will look to collect information related to ECU (Electronic Control Unit) and others and utilize the information to find the cause of a defect or malfunction.
“Auto parts manufacturers also want to collect information about how their products actually operate and whether they cause issues.” said one industry official. “Every information collected through a connected car service is a valuable asset for an auto maker.”
Number of members of Blue Link service is rising at a rapid pace. The number surpassed two million as of last month and it was around one million and 1.5 million in June of 2019 and April of 2020 respectively.
By launching Light service, the number is expected to grow at an even faster rate. Hyundai Motor Group provides Blue Link service for commercial vehicles as well. Considering the fact that it sells about 1.26 million commercial vehicles (based on the 2019 number) in South Korea annually, number of new members is expected to increase continuously.
Considering potential synergy between companies, it is likely that Kia Motors and Genesis Motor will also launch services similar to Blue Link service and extend free trial period.
“Only Hyundai Motor Company put out Light service, and nothing has been decided yet for Kia Motors and Genesis Motor.” said a representative from Hyundai Motor Group.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Company has decided to provide personal information of Blue Link users to property insurance companies for a year starting from the agreement date in order to look into introducing special discounts for safe driving. Personal information will include license plate number, operation time, acceleration and deceleration, speed, and information related to safe driving.
Staff Reporter Park, Jinhyung | jin@etnews.com