Hyundai and Kia map software-defined factory rollout across global plants
Hyundai Motor and Kia will show around 200 manufacturing technologies at E-FOREST TECH DAY 2026 in Korea, alongside a plan to extend their software-defined factory approach to plants at home and overseas.
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What Hyundai and Kia announced
Hyundai Motor and Kia are hosting E-FOREST TECH DAY 2026 from October 19 to 21 at the Hyundai Motor and Kia Uiwang Research Institute in Korea, an exhibition now in its seventh year that shares smart factory technologies developed by the companies' Manufacturing Solution Division and its partner companies. The event features approximately 200 new manufacturing technologies across foundational software-defined factory (SDF) technologies, automation, energy solutions and future mobility, according to Hyundai's own announcement. 2
In the SDF category, Hyundai and Kia will present progress in developing software-defined manufacturing systems, including quality inspection systems, together with an SDF rollout plan that can be rapidly applied to plants in Korea and overseas based on standardised technologies. The approach rests on a unified data collection and management framework and a common development environment, so solutions can be built once and tailored to each site. 21
"We will keep working to expand the use of these new technologies in our production plants and put them into practice on the factory floor," said Hyun Chul Cho, Vice President and Head of the E-FOREST Strategy Group at Hyundai Motor Group, in the company's announcement. 21
Digital twins, factory AI agents and in-house inspection
Exhibition highlights include digital twin technology, which runs simulations based on actual factory equipment in a virtual space to identify and address problems before they occur on the factory floor. Hyundai and Kia are also introducing AI agents developed specifically for factory operations, such as retrieving and interpreting production data, searching manufacturing know-how and creating equipment manuals. 28
In the automation area, the companies will show a tunnel-type exterior inspection vision technology that examines a vehicle's exterior through 3D simulation as it passes through a tunnel-shaped unit. Hyundai and Kia developed the system in-house, in place of third-party equipment, to improve finished-vehicle quality, and plan to apply it to plants in Korea and overseas. Munhwa Ilbo reports the company developed the optical system, algorithms, hardware and software itself, which it says is intended to prevent defective vehicles from reaching customers while reducing equipment maintenance and new-model investment costs. 278
Munhwa Ilbo also reports the companies directly manufacture logistics robots that transport parts within factories. By setting standard specifications and developing the hardware design and driving software in-house, they have reduced manufacturing costs by approximately 30 per cent, and by combining lithium titanate oxide (LTO) batteries with lithium-ion batteries they have cut charging time from two hours to a maximum of about 12 minutes. Previously, robots were newly reviewed and built for each logistics automation project, which raised costs and produced inconsistent quality. 7
Timelines and the path to autonomous plants
Seoul Economic Daily, reporting from a media event held at the Uiwang research centre on October 16 ahead of the exhibition, says Hyundai and Kia plan to build an integrated platform linking data and systems across their manufacturing sites, advance robot-led autonomous plants by 2030, and then apply robotics and factory autonomy technologies across new plants from 2032. These are company targets rather than deployed outcomes. 9
"Our goal is to build autonomously operated plants that make their own decisions, learn and evolve," said Choi Young-tae, head of the E-FOREST Center in the companies' Manufacturing Solution Division, according to Seoul Economic Daily, which also reports his framing that the push will improve safety on the floor and let workers focus on higher-value tasks. Munhwa Ilbo separately quotes Choi saying "the purpose of automation is not to reduce the number of people", and describes his view of the shift from systems developed separately for each plant to a single standard manufacturing platform structure. 97
According to Seoul Economic Daily, the companies plan to complete a virtual environment-based autonomous manufacturing system linked to robots at the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS), which serves as a testbed, in 2030. Verified technologies are to be applied to the Ulsan dedicated electric vehicle plant that begins mass production this month, as well as future plants, with a full automation aim of 2032. Munhwa Ilbo describes HMGICS as a 'mother plant' for early verification, with expansion to existing global plants via the US Georgia Metaplant (HMGMA) and the Ulsan EV plant. 97
Pilots already running and technologies in development
The manufacturing-specialised AI agent 'E-FOREST Polaris', which understands workers' questions and searches and analyses the information they need, began pilot operation at the Ulsan dedicated electric vehicle plant in September, Munhwa Ilbo reports. It integrates operational, quality and equipment maintenance information across manufacturing systems and provides answers based on internal documents and expert know-how, allowing root cause analysis to be accumulated as standardised data. 79
Munhwa Ilbo reports a robot teaching technology that automatically generates movement paths through simulation and uses 3D vision sensors to correct errors between virtual paths and actual robot motion, targeting more than 1,700 welding points, with development completion targeted by June next year. High-difficulty assembly automation for parts such as door garnishes and weatherstrips, previously fitted by hand, was also exhibited, and Seoul Economic Daily notes the companies plan to apply the displayed automation technologies to mass production in phases starting next year. 79
Seoul Economic Daily separately reports a physical AI-based virtual plant being developed with Nvidia, whose digital twin technology replicates manufacturing sites in virtual space to shorten new-model development and minimise physical test runs while training robots and equipment. 9
Context: a multi-year SDF program
The SDF push builds on earlier work. At E-FOREST TECH DAY 2024, the fifth annual event, Hyundai and Kia already presented a future vision for software-defined factories, with anticipated benefits including a shorter production preparation period, improved production speed, reduced investment costs for new vehicle introductions and enhanced quality, according to the company's 2024 release. That event also showcased technologies such as omnidirectional logistics robot navigation software, AI vision assembly of irregular parts like hoses and wires, and a reconfigurable multi-axis holding fixture. 34
Hyundai Motor Group's own materials describe SDF as restructured manufacturing into a four-layer architecture of hardware, control, data platform and application, allowing independent advancement of hardware and software, and note that its software-defined factories including HMGMA and HMGICS already operate new manufacturing systems powered by AI and autonomous robots. In May 2025, the group also announced a memorandum of understanding with Seoul National University to jointly research SDF core technologies including manufacturing AI, manufacturing-specific large language models, prognostics and health management, digital twins and simulation-based production optimisation. 56
Alongside this year's exhibition, a technology conference and partner seminars cover physical AI, data-driven manufacturing innovation and manufacturing AI, with Hyundai framing the event as an opportunity to extend collaboration with suppliers. Automotive World's analysis suggests standardised SDF technology could help the companies ramp overseas plants faster as tariffs push more production into markets such as the US, though this is the publication's interpretation rather than a company claim. 21
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Cited in 3 paragraphs: What Hyundai and Kia announced; Context: a multi-year SDF program.
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Cited in 6 paragraphs: Digital twins, factory AI agents and in-house inspection; Timelines and the path to autonomous plants; Pilots already running and technologies in development.
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