Amazon has announced a broad strategic partnership with the Hyundai Motor Company aimed at offering new experiences to automotive customers.
Revealed at the 2023 Los Angeles Auto Show, the collaboration will see Amazon begin online sales of Hyundai vehicles in the U.S. in 2024 while Hyundai will utilize AWS as its preferred cloud provider to enhance its digital offering, and Amazon will in turn integrate its Alexa Built-in experience into next-generation Hyundai vehicles.
In launching online vehicle sales in the U.S., Amazon is aiming to offer a new digital shopping experience that allows users to more easily purchase a vehicle before picking it up or having it delivered by a local dealership at a designated time slot. On the website, customers will be able to search for available vehicles in their area based on a number of criteria – including the model, trim, color, and features. After choosing their preferred car, the user then navigates through Amazon’s conventional checkout system with their chosen payment and financing options. For dealers, Amazon says that this experience will provide them with a new way to build awareness of their selection and offer convenience to their customers.
Another key area of the partnership revolves around AWS, which Hyundai has selected as its preferred cloud provider to accelerate its digital transformation. In working towards this transformation, the OEM plans to leverage a broad range of AWS capabilities – from compute, storage, database, and analytics to generative AI and Internet of Things (IoT). Here, as part of a new multiyear agreement, Hyundai will become a more data-driven organization with a cloud-first technology strategy, migrating its current on-premises applications – which today support key research, product engineering, and customer engagement operations – to AWS. Within this agreement, Hyundai plans to prioritize business cases, including manufacturing and supply chain, to optimize production while minimizing costs, security, and disaster recovery for resiliency as well as connected vehicle development.
Further along the partnership, starting in 2025, Hyundai’s next-generation vehicles will offer Amazon’s hands-free Alexa experience. Through it, drivers can issue voice commands to the virtual personal assistant that control a broad range of functions – allowing it to play music, podcasts, or audiobooks; set reminders, update to-do-lists, and check calendars. The in-vehicle Alexa system will also enable users to control compatible smart home devices using with voice commands to double-check that the doors are locked before leaving or activate the heating as they return home.
Alexa will also support key vehicle functionality in the next-generation Hyundai vehicles, capable of providing up-to-date traffic updates or weather reports, and controlling the in-vehicle media player or navigation system. Here, certain Alexa features can also be accessed even when internet connectivity is intermittent or unavailable.