- At Hyundai’s annual CEO Investor Day in New York, the Korean automaker offered new details about its next-generation software system.
- Hyundai’s Pleos Connect OS will come to electrified and gas models starting in the second quarter of 2026.
- With in-car apps, more customization, AI and other features, Hyundai may get closer to the software supremacy of Tesla, Rivian and the Chinese automakers.
As any owner of a Hyundai, Kia or Genesis electric vehicle will probably tell you, the Korean conglomerate has gotten a lot right. Its EVs tend to be class-leading in terms of electric range, fast-charging times, performance and more. But its in-car software experience has aged about as well as skinny jeans.
The smartphone apps are slow and buggy. The infotainment system works just fine, but it’s not fancy, and true over-the-air updates are few and far between. And none of it can be terribly personalized. As customers demand more advanced features in cars and automakers explore new ways to make money from them, something has to change for Hyundai.
That change is coming soon in the form of Pleos Connect, the Hyundai Motor Group’s next-generation software suite and infotainment system. At Hyundai’s annual CEO Investor Day in New York, executives offered a few more details about what to expect from this operating system when it arrives on new electric, hybrid and gas-powered cars in the second quarter of 2026.
And as Jihan Ryu, the head of Hyundai’s Vehicle Architecture & Integration Center, put it, it’s all key to staying competitive. “For decades, the automotive industry was defined by one goal: build and sell quality vehicles,” he said. “Today, that paradigm is fundamentally shifting. The power of software has unlocked the potential for vehicles to continuously evolve long after they leave the factory.”
Photo by: Hyundai
Pleos Vehicle OS is the software stack, and the infotainment system itself is called Pleos Connect. While developed in-house by Hyundai, it’s based on the Android Automotive Operating System used by General Motors, Volvo, Polestar and others. That’s a plus: In terms of voice recognition, speed and Google Maps integration, these systems tend to be excellent. (And it seems unlikely that Hyundai is walking away from Apple CarPlay.)
Pleos Connect will be the “most visible” application of this system, Ryu said. And from a cursory glance and the few previews Hyundai has shown, it looks a lot like Tesla’s infotainment system: There is a bottom bar of commonly used apps, a large map screen, charging and range data in the corners, and so on. This makes sense, since this setup is remarkably similar to what many advanced Chinese EVs also run.
Photo by: Hyundai
Ryu said new features on this system will include true driver profiles for each user, which aren’t as extensive on current cars. It allows up to three windows to operate on the screen at once, like navigation, music and charging info. And it opens up a marketplace of third-party apps open to various developers. Right now, Hyundai’s current offerings are fairly limited in terms of external apps.
But this system will also open up more of Hyundai’s long-term dreams of subscription revenue through software services, downloads, upgrades and other digital features.
“More importantly, this platform is our gateway to a recurring [software] revenue model, allowing us to offer a constantly expanding suite of products and experiences to our customers,” Ryu said. Hyundai officials have said they hope for software-related features to make up to 30% of company revenue someday, and things like advanced smartphone connectivity also require monthly or annual payments.
With any luck, they’ll be more worth paying for soon. Hyundai hasn’t yet said which cars will get this software system first in 2026. But when that happens, it could represent a needed digital upgrade for an automaker that’s excelled in a lot of other areas.
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
