Lee International

Hyundai Motor entered into a license agreement with AT&T, a major US telecommunication company, to strengthen its Robo-Taxi and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) technology portfolio in November 2021.

This license agreement focuses on patents in the urban aircraft and voice recognition and processing technology, and includes dozens of patents in technologies for maintaining network connection in aerial devices during unmanned flight, location tracking in open space environments, algorithm-based wireless file distribution optimization for connected cars, and dynamic image recognition.  Hyundai Motor plans to solidify its leading position in the Robo-Taxi and UAM markets by acquiring the rights to produce and sell products manufactured using the licensed AT&T’s patented technology.  

Recently, Hyundai Motor unveiled its “Robotics Vision” to expand the human mobility experience based on artificial intelligence and autonomous driving at the world’s largest technology expo (Consumer Electronics Show,) 2022, in Las Vegas, USA.  The “Robotics Vision” refers to “Meta-mobility” that innovatively expands the user’s mobility experience, a “Mobility of Things (MoT)” ecosystem that gives mobility to things, and “Intelligent robots” that will replace humans.

In particular, Meta-mobility is a compound word of metaverse and mobility, and mobility serves as a medium connecting the virtual reality and the real-world.  According to a Hyundai Motor, Meta-mobility refers to a phenomenon where smart devices such as automobiles, UAM, and robotics connect with the metaverse platform to enhance the User Experience, and in the era of Meta-mobility, automobiles will become smart devices that can access virtual spaces.  For example, when Meta-mobility is implemented, the indoor space of an automobile may become a meeting room or a space for entertainment, and the automobile may serve as a medium connecting the real world and virtual space.

As such, Hyundai Motor is expanding its business area from the traditional automobile business to the mobility industry.  In this process, Hyundai Motor is entering into strategic partnerships with other companies and expanding and diversifying its patent portfolio.

It is highly likely that a patent dispute will arise in the field of convergence technology between metaverse and mobility once Hyundai Motor commercializes the Meta-mobility.  As such, it would be desirable to pay attention to these industry trends and strategically build its patent portfolio based on the industry trends.