Hyundai Motor Group develops healing mobility for child abuse victims

Hyundai Motor Group has applied digital therapeutics technology into an automobile for victims of child abuse to have an in-the-car treatment experience.

According to the South Korean automaker Friday, the healing vehicle named “iCAREcar” has been developed with Hyundai Motor’s minivan Staria and its interior has been optimized to offer psychological counseling inside the car.

Under the theme of "Heals on Wheels," the group's latest social campaign project was co-developed using various technologies of Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai AutoEver and 42dot. The applied technologies include an immersive display, smart sound recognition based on artificial intelligence and driver monitoring system that utilizes brainwave detection.

Hyundai Motor said the immersive display, which is installed in the backside of the healing vehicle, allows children to feel as if they were in a virtual space for better interaction and psychological safety. The company said the display is designed to be at the eye level of children younger than 13 years old as most child abuse victims are elementary students.

The AI smart sound recognition can automatically convert the dialogue inside the healing vehicle into text in an application and distinguish each speaker’s voice in writing. According to the automaker, the application can pick up important words in the conversation in order to identify risk factors for victims.

Regarding the brainwave-based driver monitoring system developed by Hyundai Mobis under the name of M.Brain, Hyundai Motor said it can simultaneously detect the children’s stress level through a set of earpieces as they undergo counseling sessions in the healing vehicle. The technology of M.Brain is used for the overall course of in-the-car treatment as counselors can monitor the child’s status for a safer and more efficient session.

The iCAREcar on Wednesday was handed over to Good Neighbors, an international non-governmental organization focused on enhancing children’s rights, for on-site services. Hyundai Motor said the healing vehicle will offer counseling sessions at doorsteps across the country.

The automaker’s video of iCAREcar’s development process and how it can be practically used for counseling child abuse victims is available on Hyundai Motor Group’s YouTube channel.

Hyundai Motor Group’s latest social campaign marked its sixth project since it began developing mobility to make a better society in 2015. Some of the past projects include a school bus with transparent LED touch technology for deaf children and the world’s first hydrogen garbage truck.