Hyundai's software-defined vehicle (SDV) test car has been caught again, and this time with its door open. Korean spy photographer JHS (jhs_spyshot_official) found an IONIQ 5 SDV prototype, the car Hyundai uses as an SDV "Pace Car", parked in a garage with the driver's door open, giving us a look at a dashboard layout we have not seen before in a Hyundai.
According to JHS, the car appeared to be testing automatic parking, with the Pleos software running on its screen.
What We Can See Inside
The open door shows a dashboard that looks very different from the IONIQ 5 on sale today:
No instrument cluster: there is no digital display behind the steering wheel. All the information appears to move to the central screen, something no Hyundai has done before. The current IONIQ 5 uses two 12.3-inch screens side by side.
A new steering wheel: the wheel has a new design, different from the one in today's IONIQ 5.
The Pleos Connect screen: the large central display itself is not new. It is the Pleos Connect screen already used in Hyundai's latest models, here mounted on its own in the middle of the dashboard.
Test equipment outside: the roof carries a sensor rack, and a camera pod with several lenses is mounted near the side mirror. Both are typical of autonomous driving test cars.
The photo is blurry, so we cannot read what the screen shows or see every detail of the new layout. You can see the full set of photos and the video in JHS's post:
Why It Matters
Hyundai Motor Group is moving to software-defined vehicles, where features can be added and improved through software updates. Its in-car software, Pleos Connect, has already reached production models, and we tested it in the Grandeur facelift.
The SDV test cars go a step further. In May, we reported on an IONIQ 6 prototype testing the next-generation SDV architecture in Europe. This IONIQ 5 shows the same work is going on in Korea, now combined with self-driving functions like automatic parking. This fits Hyundai's plan to bring autonomous driving to market quickly under Park Min-woo and to offer it beyond EVs.
Our Take
This is a test car, not a preview of the next IONIQ 5. Still, a dashboard without an instrument cluster, with everything on the Pleos Connect screen, would be a big change for Hyundai, and the parking test shows where its software is going. Hyundai has not shared details of the SDV Pace Car yet, so we will keep following it.
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