Can you imagine browsing the Amazon website in search of last-minute Christmas gifts and being able to click on a Hyundai car? Being able to buy a car from start to finish, without leaving Amazon? Both companies have reached an agreement for “new experiences”, and this will only be the first.
Starting in 2024 in the US, it will be possible to buy vehicles hyundai via the Amazon website. It is not a marketing trick – or not exclusively – because the agreement between both companies is part of a “broad strategic agreement,” says the press release. You can search for available offers in the area, choose preferences, the method of payment or financing and all “within the experience and trust of Amazon.” Does it mean that there can be returns without questions? It is still early to know the details.
The fact that online sales take place in the immense Amazon showcase can give greater exposure to customers, but it does not cancel out the physical part, the dealers, who offer the vehicles and will be in charge of the delivery process.
In reciprocity, future Hyundai cars, starting in 2025, will be available on board the Amazon showcase, because They will incorporate Alexa. This will be part of the set of new experiences that Hyundai wants to offer its customers, in terms of entertainment, digital assistants, home automation control… and shopping, naturally. All, under the well-known Amazon ecosystem, which more car brands already incorporate. It will evolve over the years. It has already been made clear that they will offer artificial intelligence services generative, that is, ChatGPT-style bots or agents capable of interacting, chatting with occupants and helping in an “intelligent” way, even proactively.
The cloud and data processing, the heart of the agreement
E-commerce on Amazon for vehicles and, vice versa, vehicles as an Amazon store, is only the tip of the iceberg. The bottom line is that Hyundai has named AWS its preferred cloud services provider. AND The cloud is basic in this transformation process digital that is considered essential in all companies, and essential in automobile companies.
With this long-term agreement, Hyundai will adopt a cloud-first strategy, migrating to AWS from research, to product and customer engineering. Priority will be given to aspects related to “industry 4.0”, seeking optimize vehicle production and the supply chain, as well as working on risk prevention, to improve resilience in situations such as those experienced after the Covid and chip crises.
The car of the future, the one of now, based on software, needs myriads of data. Current cars are sensors on wheels, they move within their electronics gigabytes of data collected by their cameras, radars, lasers, but also functional signals of the car itself, speed, ground grip, light and rain situation… In the case of cars communicators – with the mandatory SOS button, all new ones are – is open the way for that data to leave the car and be used. So that? Ask the technology giants, including AWS. For example, knowing what users use each type of vehicle to design more suitable ones. To sell that data to local administrations that want improve traffic and avoid traffic jams. With data, you can achieve whatever you want. Hyundai already had, in June 2023, ten million connected users subscribed (to its still “primitive” Bluelink system) and wants to reach twenty million in 2026.
The advantages for its users are still limited (open or close the car from the mobile phone, know some data such as consumption, mileage, where it is parked…), but They can go beyond what was imagined. They are the new digital businesses that will surround the automobile (or so the sector hopes): 7 percent of the Spanish GDP, they said at the IX Nissan Forum, thanks to connectivity and autonomous vehicles.
And where is that data that millions of cars emit stored? And how is it filtered, how is it treated, how is it secured, how can we take advantage of it? There’s AWS, Amazon’s web services, which is currently Amazon’s real business. From how to do welding, to autonomous driving or fleet management. BMW, Ferrari, Honda, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen and several more already work with AWS.
For Amazon, Hyundai is “very innovative, wanting to improve and make the lives of its customers easier”, and for Hyundai, Amazon is “one of the most customer-centric organizations”. With these common objectives, Hyundai believes that it will continue to expand its ranges, its sales network, its transition to electrification and will be able to achieve smart mobility.
