Hyundai's Innovation Center Is a Sci-Fi Facility with Veggies
From the March/April issue of Car and Driver.
Though it looks straight out of a science-fiction film, the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (or HMGICS, for those who prefer initialisms) is no movie set. HMGICS is a fully functioning assembly plant capable of churning out up to 30,000 vehicles per year. Its state-of-the-art robotics, more efficient manufacturing processes, and on-site farm are among the things that separate HMGICS from the Korean automaker's other factories.
"This is our test bed," says Alpesh Patel, vice president and head of the HMGICS Technology Innovation Group. "We can expand this concept worldwide, once proven."
Indeed, if HMGICS succeeds, it could serve as the foundational model for tomorrow's assembly plants. Then again, this seven-story urban factory may ultimately represent the future of manufacturing that never came to be. You know, like the assembly-plant version of Blade Runner, Mad Max, or Planet of the Apes.
Race the Roof
Dubbed the Skytrack, this 2034-foot-long oval is more amusement-park ride than research and development tool, with HMGICS offering guests the opportunity to experience the dynamic capabilities of the Ioniq 5, albeit from the passenger's seat. Its inspiration is undoubtedly Fiat's rooftop track in Turin.
Plants in the Plant
The facility's farm grows as many as nine different crops. Don't go looking for Old MacDonald, though—a team of robotic arms seeds and harvests. The fruits—er, veggies—of this mechanical labor end up in the hands of customers as souvenirs of their visit and on menus around the site, including at a "tasting lounge" and, soon, a farm-to-table restaurant. Hyundai also donates some of the yield to locals.
Guard Dogs
There's even a handful of doglike Spot robots from Boston Dynamics (the robotics company that Hyundai acquired earlier in the decade). These four-legged androids send real-time images of the assembly process, some of which is automated, to an AI-assisted command center, helping Hyundai identify potential quality-control issues on the line.
Present at the Creation
Customers who order an HMGICS-produced vehicle (currently just the Ioniq 5, though there are plans to build additional models) have the option to pick it up at the factory. Expectant owners watch a video of their car's build and take delivery of the completed machine on-site.
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