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Newsletter N°87 - March 2026
🚗 Mobility / IoT Platforms: Hyundai and Kia launch Car-to-Home service with Samsung, linking vehicles to smart home ecosystems
Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation have introduced a new Car-to-Home service in partnership with Samsung Electronics, allowing users to remotely control household appliances directly from their vehicle. The service marks a new step in the integration of mobility and residential digital ecosystems, extending the scope of connected car platforms beyond the vehicle itself.
The Car-to-Home feature builds on the companies’ earlier Home-to-Car functionality, which enabled users to control vehicle features from their home. With the addition of this new capability, Hyundai and Kia are aiming to create a bidirectional connection between car and home, positioning the vehicle as an extension of the user’s digital environment rather than a standalone mobility device.
Technically, the service relies on the integration between the automakers’ connected car platforms and SmartThings, Samsung’s smart home ecosystem. This connection enables real-time interaction between the vehicle’s infotainment system and in-home IoT devices, allowing users to control appliances such as air conditioners, air purifiers, and robot vacuum cleaners directly from the car interface.
Users can activate the service by linking their accounts via a QR code displayed in the infotainment system, available for customers using Hyundai Bluelink and Kia Connect services. Once connected, the system enables continuous interaction across different stages of the user journey, from leaving home to commuting and returning, supporting a seamless end-to-end lifestyle experience.
A key feature of the offering is the integration of Smart Routine automation, which uses vehicle location data to trigger predefined scenarios such as “leaving home” or “arriving home.” This allows appliances to be automatically activated or adjusted based on user movement, reinforcing the shift toward context-aware, automated environments rather than manual remote control.
The service will be deployed progressively via over-the-air (OTA) updates on vehicles equipped with Hyundai and Kia’s ccNC infotainment systems, with plans to expand compatibility to future platforms including Genesis models. This OTA-based rollout reflects the broader transition toward software-defined vehicles (SDVs), where new functionalities can be continuously added post-sale.
Beyond the feature itself, the initiative highlights a broader strategic trend in the mobility and telecom ecosystem: the convergence of connected car platforms, IoT infrastructures, and smart home ecosystems. By integrating with an established platform like SmartThings, Hyundai and Kia are leveraging existing device ecosystems rather than building standalone solutions, accelerating time-to-market and user adoption.
The launch illustrates how automakers are increasingly positioning vehicles as central nodes within a wider digital ecosystem, where mobility, home, and personal services are interconnected.
As competition intensifies around platform ownership and user interface control, such integrations may become a key differentiator in delivering integrated, software-driven customer experiences.