Genesis sedans to offer app for Google Glass

Hyundai Motor’s new Genesis is expected to offer owners a chance to control their cars through a Blue Link application that will offer the same kind of remote services delivered from a smartphone, including basic remote control, maintenance updates and sending Google Maps directions ― all via Google Glass.

However, Google’s eyewear won’t be the only wearable device the new Genesis consumers will have access to, since Hyundai has already said it would offer Blue Link support for other devices as well.

“Hyundai will offer an application designed for Glass and other wearable electronic devices starting with the 2015 Genesis,” South Korea’s largest automaker said in a statement.

The feature is an extension of Hyundai’s current Blue Link in-car system that provides diagnostic and maintenance services, the Seoul-based company said.

“The Glass application is only for pre-drive operations ― not when you’re behind the wheel,” Miles Johnson, a company spokesman, said in a telephone interview. “The goal is that when you get to the car to start your trip, the drive is less stressful.”

Park Min-hyung, a spokesman in Seoul, said further details on other devices Hyundai plans to offer the app will be revealed at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show to be held in Las Vegas next week.

Hyundai plans follow similar intentions by Nissan Motor Co. and Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz to integrate wearable data devices with their vehicles. Google released technical specifications for its Glass computing device in April 2013 to encourage software developers to create applications for the Web-enabled spectacles.

Google, expanding beyond its core search-engine business, has been investing in Glass as it bets consumers will shift more attention to wireless devices that let them easily snap photos, check emails or listen to music without the aid of smartphones or traditional computers.

Hyundai will demonstrate the Glass-enabled system on Jan. 6 in Las Vegas, before the start of the International CES technology trade show, said Johnson, who declined to elaborate on specific features.

By Lee Ji-yoon and news reports (jylee@heraldcorp.com)