Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- Hyundai Motor partnered with a prominent research institute in the southern port city of Ulsan to design the exterior of self-driving cars that would reflect the lifestyle of the iGeneration representing smartphones and social media.

Hyundai said Tuesday that it would launch a seven-month project in April through cooperation with a research team led by Jeong Yun-woo, a professor at the design and human engineering department of the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST).

They will design the exterior of self-driving cars that reflect the new generation's lifestyle and culture of consumption. Hashtags for social media will be analyzed to develop self-driving concepts that match the generation's main words. iGeneration, born between 1995 and 2012, is more focused on work than its previous millennial generation even if they had plenty of money.

The UNIST team won an award at the iF Design Awards 2019 in Germany in January for a new concept of transportation that improved heavy wheelchairs with graphene and high-elastic mesh materials to reduce weight.