Kia Announces Platform Beyond Vehicle Business to Go ‘Beyond Mobility’
Kia has revealed its Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) future strategy at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Kia’s PBV business will initially be based around the introduction of an all-new, modular vehicle, previewed by the Kia Concept PV5.
This future vision was presented alongside a multi-phase plan with the goal of PBVs revolutionizing the mobility industry while helping to advance Hyundai Motor Group’s ambitions in robotics, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), and autonomous driving.
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Kia PBVs are intended to be a total mobility solution that combines fit-for-purpose EVs with advanced software solutions based on the Hyundai Motor Group’s software-to-everything, or SDx, strategy. As a Platform Beyond Vehicle, Kia PBVs are designed to open the door to new businesses and lifestyles by redefining the concept of space thanks to advanced, tailored interiors that provide freedom and flexibility.
“Kia’s PBV business represents our vision of going beyond the traditional concept of automobiles by fulfilling the unmet needs of diverse customers and communities through optimized vehicles and services catering to specific market and business circumstances,” said Ho Sung Song, Kia Corporation President and CEO.
A vision for future mobility
The launch of Kia’s PBV business will see the brand commit to providing a varied range of customized vehicle types to meet customers’ individual requirements. Determined to overcome existing restrictive and one-dimensional industry product line-up offerings, Kia believes its new approach to PBVs can help solve various mobility challenges encountered by individuals and organizations with limited transportation options.
Kia’s PBV offering will be built around a dedicated business system, integrating vehicles, software, and future technologies to deliver benefit. The brand’s PBV roadmap, divided into three distinct phases, illustrates how Kia PBVs will be pivotal in realizing the Group’s SDx vision as devices that offer tailored solutions according to customer usage patterns.
Designed to make users’ lives easier
Utilizing technology to flexibly address the diverse demands of customers, the design strategy is to enable a single vehicle chassis to be used to fulfil multiple mobility needs. Behind a fixed cab, or ‘driver zone’, a variety of interchangeable upper bodies, or ‘life modules’, can be connected to the base vehicle via a hybrid electromagnetic and mechanical coupling technology, turning the PBV into a taxi during the day, to a delivery van at night, and a personal recreational vehicle on weekends.
The weldless body structure assembly is designed to enable the length of moveable members to be flexibly adjusted according to vehicle use purpose. Shipped in standardized, convenient kit form, Dynamic Hybrid technology is intended to allow for the quick and simple in-field transformation of a Kia PV5.