Kakao joins hands with Hyundai, Kia to develop AI tech

South Korea's top mobile messenger operator Kakao Corp. said Monday it has joined forces with the country's leading automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its sister company Kia Motors Corp. to develop Artificial Intelligence technology.

Under the agreement, the automakers will implement server-based speech recognition technology into the Genesis G70 model by utilizing Kakao's AI platform, called Kakao I, starting in September of this year.

The server-based speech recognition technology is the first service to incorporate Kakao I by allowing drivers to search for destinations, such as restaurants through voice recognition, corporate sources said.

Drivers can see accurate navigation information by simply stating a command word and destination by pressing the voice search button on the steering wheel, the companies said. Once a driver's search word is registered, the relevant navigation information is delivered to Kakao Map servers, then transferred into the car's navigation system.

The companies have been co-developing the technology since last year, Kakao said, adding that it plans to continue working for the commercialization of connected cars.

Kakao is one of the many global Internet giants like Google, Amazon and IBM that are trying to acquire core AI technologies, such as machine learning, automatic translation, self-driving cars and smart robotics.

In an effort to catch up with other global powerhouses, Kakao set a up a task force team delving into the AI sector earlier this year. (Yonhap)