Hyundai Unveils Pleos Connect Infotainment System with Gleo AI

Hyundai Motor Group has officially unveiled Pleos Connect, a next-generation in-vehicle infotainment system designed to replace the fragmented software architecture currently running across its vehicle lineup. The production-ready platform debuted at a media event at UX Studio Seoul on April 29, 2026, marking the company's first major step toward becoming a software-centric mobility leader.

The system will make its initial appearance on the new GRANDEUR sedan in South Korea this May, followed by a phased global rollout that includes the IONIQ 3 in Europe. Hyundai has set an ambitious deployment target: approximately 20 million vehicles across Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis brands will be equipped with Pleos Connect by 2030.

At the core of the platform sits Gleo AI, a voice assistant built on a large language model (LLM) architecture. Unlike traditional command-based systems that require specific keywords, Gleo interprets conversational context and driving situations to understand abstract requests. A driver can say "navigate there" or "find a restaurant near here," and the system processes the intent without needing rigid syntax (which is a massive improvement over the frustrating button-mashing of legacy systems).

Current capabilities focus on vehicle control and convenience features, but the roadmap includes linking Gleo to third-party application services. The AI can handle multiple commands within a single request, answer questions about news and weather through web searches, and access navigation, climate settings, and vehicle manual information using natural language alone.

On the hardware side, Pleos Connect features two main displays. The smaller screen sits directly in front of the driver, showing speed, media, and turn-by-turn directions in the driver's field of view. The larger central dashboard screen divides into three sections, with the driving information panel displaying speed, warning lights, and 3D graphics of surrounding objects and people.

Despite the touchscreen-heavy design, Hyundai retained physical buttons below the central screen and on the steering wheel. This decision reflects extensive research into driver behavior conducted by UX Studios in Seoul, Irvine, Frankfurt, and Shanghai. The physical controls allow quick access to key functions without requiring eyes off the road to tap a glass surface.

A three-finger gesture enables drivers to reposition app windows or instantly close unnecessary applications. The gesture-based interaction adds a layer of tactile feedback that pure touch interfaces lack, though users will need to learn the motion before it becomes muscle memory.

The navigation system has been redesigned to reduce complexity. It delivers data-driven route guidance using online maps and real-time traffic data collected from other vehicles. In South Korea, the live map may integrate with Naver, the country's primary navigation app, though Hyundai has not confirmed the exact partnership details.

Pleos Connect supports over-the-air (OTA) software updates, ensuring continuous feature and performance enhancements after purchase. The platform also introduces an App Market, an open ecosystem for third-party services including YouTube and Spotify. Future updates will add gaming, entertainment, and vehicle management services.

According to Hyundai Motor Group's official press release, the system is built on three core development pillars: intuitiveness, safety, and openness. The design mirrors mobile device familiarity to minimize driver distraction while maintaining functionality.

Senior Vice President Jongwon Lee, Head of the Feature & CCS Sub-Division, stated that Pleos Connect combines a mobile-friendly platform with advanced AI technology to offer customers an elevated mobility experience. The production-ready version represents the mass-production iteration of the concept first unveiled at the Pleos 25 developer conference in 2025.

Independent reporting from Autoevolution corroborates the timeline and technical specifications, noting that display dimensions were not revealed as they will vary depending on vehicle models.

The long-term vision extends beyond software-defined vehicles (SDVs) toward Artificial Intelligence-Defined Vehicles (AIDVs). This next phase aims to enhance vehicle-human interaction through personalized AI voice assistants embedded in Pleos Connect. Whether this transition delivers meaningful value or just adds another layer of abstraction remains to be seen.

For developers, the App Market represents a creative platform to reshape the mobility experience. Cheehyung Yoon, Group Lead of the Pleos Playground Group at 42dot, emphasized that any developer can participate in redefining future mobility through the open ecosystem.

Implementation challenges will likely emerge as Hyundai scales the platform across three brands with different market positions. The GRANDEUR in Korea may receive features before European IONIQ 3 buyers, creating potential fragmentation in the user experience. Whether customers actually notice the difference between software versions remains the real question.

The infotainment industry has been chasing the "smart car" promise for years, often delivering systems that feel more like afterthoughts than integrated experiences. Pleos Connect attempts to solve this by treating software as a core product rather than a vehicle accessory. The execution will determine if this is genuine progress or just another marketing cycle.

Artūras Malašauskas is an AI Systems Integrator with 20+ years of production-grade web engineering experience. He has designed, shipped, and scaled enterprise Python/PHP systems for logistics, SaaS, and public-sector clients. For the past year, he has focused exclusively on AI integrations: deploying open-source LLMs, building generative media pipelines (image, audio, video), and engineering multi-agent workflows for real production environments. His standard: reproducibility, security, cost-efficient inference—no vaporware. He documents and evaluates emerging AI tooling, separating verified capabilities from marketing noise. Technical editor at: muza-ai.eu, ai-verslas.lt, ai-naujinos.lt Connect on LinkedIn