Hyundai assembles EVs sans conveyor belt in Singapore

Hyundai Motor has opened its Global Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICS), where robots assemble cars without a conveyor belt.

Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung speaks at the opening ceremony of the Hyundai Motor Group Global Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS) on Tuesday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Order your Hyundai car through a smartphone, and robots will immediately carry the seats, glass and tires to assemble your new ride.

A four-legged robot dog, named AI keeper, takes photos of the parts to check for quality and sort out any faulty parts.

This is how Hyundai cars are now made in Singapore, with the opening of the Hyundai Motor Group Global Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS), a manufacturing hub centered on research and development that emits zero carbon emissions.

A view of Hmgics, a manufacturing hub centered on research and development that emits zero carbon emissions. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Robots carry and assemble cars at the Hmgics. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Situated on a 44,000-square-meter site in Jurong Innovation District, in western Singapore, the seven-story center started producing Ioniq 5s and self-driving robotaxis at the beginning of the year.

“We thought hard about how to meet the diverse needs of our many customers, and by combining our manufacturing expertise and the latest cutting-edge technologies, we created this Innovation Center — a new paradigm of manufacturing,” said Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung at the HMGICS opening ceremony Tuesday.

Plot twist: The factory has no conveyor belt, the fundamental equipment at automobile manufacturing sites. Instead, cars are manufactured by 200 robots in a so-called Cell Workshop, where multiple robotic arms assemble the vehicle. Only one human worker is needed to oversee the process.

It is a one-order-per-delivery system, where the robots make customized cars when an order is placed.

A four-legged robot dog, named AI keeper, checks the quality of an assembled car at the Hmgics. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Autonomous mobile robots, equipped with lidar and camera sensors that can detect humans and obstacles in real-time, carry the auto parts. When the battery reduces to 20 percent, it automatically moves to the charging stations.

The assembled parts are transferred by different robots called Automated Guided Vehicles, which move between cells by reading Quick Response codes on the floor.

When an auto part is out of stock, the AI detects the shortage and tells the robots in the storage room to bring the parts to the assembly line.

As soon as the car is completely assembled, a four-legged robot dog, named Spot, developed by Boston Dynamics, conducts the final quality test. Hyundai owns 80 percent of the Massachusetts-based robot maker.

Automated Guided Vehicle robots move between cells at the Hmgics [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Spot, which Hyundai calls an AI keeper, takes photos of the car and examines the quality using its own AI algorithm.

“Customization is the latest trend in cars and the robots are our answer as conveyor belts are not suitable for the task,” said Jung Hong-bum, head of the HMGICS. “The center aims to make cars relying 100 percent on automation.”

The center has an annual capacity of 30,000 EVs. A total of 280 employees work at the center, with half of them working on research.

Hyundai aims to make purpose-built vehicles (PBVs) and flying taxis at the factory in the future. PBVs are vehicles with flexible platforms that can serve different customer purposes including logistics and commercial activities.

An Ioniq 5 speeds across the Skytrack on the roof of the Hmgics. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

The assembled cars are transferred to a 620-meter Skytrack on the roof, allowing customers to test-ride the cars before getting them.

On the first and third floors, Hyundai made smart farms that can produce up to nine different crops.

With only one percent of land used for agriculture due to its rocky geology, Singapore imports 90 percent of the food consumed in the region. The smart farm focuses not only on increasing productivity in a compact environment, but also on enhancing customer awareness by allowing visitors to experience the entire farming process, Hyundai said.

Smart farms inside the Hmgics produce up to nine different crops. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai on Tuesday also signed a memorandum of understanding with Nanyang Technological University and the state-run Agency for Science, Technology and Research to establish a research lab to further work on future mobility technologies like AI and robotics.

The deal is the first of its kind between a private company and the Singaporean government. The technologies developed at the lab will be tested at the HMGICS and spread to Hyundai's overseas plants.

“The ideas and products created here are innovated in Singapore, not just made in Singapore,” said Hyundai Motor CEO Jay Chang. “Grounded on Singapore’s future-oriented policies and infrastructure, we will act as a global incubator for Singapore’s talents and businesses through our Corporate Lab Program.”

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]