Hyundai hitches a lift with Cisco on the road to connected carsApr 20(AZINS) Korean carmaker Hyundai is joining forces with Cisco in order to build a full connected car platform that will be able to take the strain as the amounts of data shared between vehicles begins to explode in size.

"Future connected cars will open new innovations in quality, safety, and security, as never before. By expanding time and space, more safety will be guaranteed for our customers," said Euisun Chung, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor.

Connecting cars to the web and to each other isn't about passengers being able to catch up on "Game of Thrones," though the technology will enable it. The ability for two vehicles to share information in real time about traffic, weather conditions, obstructions or the position of other cars on the road is just as critical to the realization of truly autonomous cars as the development of autonomous braking, steering or lane changing.

"This is truly an exciting time to collaborate with Hyundai Motor. Digital disruption into the automotive industry is being driven by technologies that are creating new user experiences," said Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco.

Handling this information will mean looking to the cloud and to data analytics. And like liability in the event of an autonomous car crashing, collecting and using driver data is a hot topic within the automotive industry. On Friday, the ACEA (the European Automobile Manufactures' Association, an organization of which Hyundai is a member) published its first guidelines on the subject.

It calls for different data generated from different vehicle systems to be protected and treated individually and outlines that no matter how revolutionary connectivity could be security and safety need to come above all other considerations.

This is why the partnership will initially focus on connecting individual subsystems within a vehicle and why investment in developing better or faster systems will also be mirrored by investment and research in security.

With Cisco's assistance, Hyundai's mid-to-long-term goal is offering customers cars with integrated smart remote maintenance services, autonomous driving capabilities, the ability to predict and avoid congestion plus links with the wider transit networks for door-to-door and last mile journeys.