Hyundai Motor and Kia win at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with ‘Vision Pulse’ technology campaign

Hyundai Motor and Kia announced on Sunday (28th) that they have won a Bronze award in the 'Design: Use of Emerging Technology' category at the international advertising festival 'Cannes Lions' for their 'Vision Pulse campaign'.

Cannes Lions is an advertising industry festival held in Cannes, France, since 1954. In its 73rd edition this year, over 20,000 entries from 92 countries competed.

The award-winning Vision Pulse campaign is a video content piece that documents Hyundai Motor and Kia's activities in piloting Vision Pulse technology on kindergarten school buses to protect children's safety during their commute, along with the process behind it.

Vision Pulse is an advanced driving safety technology that uses Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) radio waves to identify the real-time location of obstacles around the vehicle, thereby assisting the driver.

When Vision Pulse technology is applied to a vehicle, the UWB module emits radio waves. If other nearby vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, or pedestrians also have modules emitting UWB signals, both UWB modules measure the time it takes for the signals to be exchanged between them. In the event of a potential collision, the driver is alerted, thereby enhancing safety.

In particular, due to the nature of UWB, which uses ultra-wideband radio waves in the GHz (gigahertz) range, there is minimal interference with other radio waves. Its excellent diffraction and penetration capabilities allow it to accurately identify the precise location of objects within a radius of approximately 100 metres, even in urban intersections with many obstacles, with an error margin of just 10 cm.

While a separate UWB module can be installed in a vehicle to utilise Vision Pulse technology, vehicles equipped with 'Digital Key 2' already have the module integrated, meaning it can be used without the need for additional devices.

In the campaign video, Hyundai Motor and Kia introduced the idea of creating a guardian character keyring, designed for children to easily carry the UWB module by attaching it to their bags. By adding a 'sleep mood light' function to the keyring, children are naturally encouraged to connect it to a power source when turning on the light before bed, also addressing charging convenience.

The Cannes Lions jury positively evaluated Vision Pulse for securing cost efficiency and scalability through its design linked to the existing digital key ecosystem, as well as for utilising advanced technology to solve real-life safety issues.

In particular, the tag design in the form of a keyring, which children can readily accept without resistance, the anchor design integrated into the school bus, and the concept of protecting children both day and night through the sleep mood light function were praised for blending together naturally.

Earlier, in April, the Vision Pulse campaign received two main prizes and a Bronze award at other international advertising festivals, 'The One Show' and 'Spikes Asia', respectively, earning recognition for its technological competitiveness and creativity.

Meanwhile, from 2025, Hyundai Motor and Kia will apply Vision Pulse technology to the production line at the Kia PBV Conversion Centre (Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi Province), conducting a demonstration project to prevent collision accidents between forklifts and workers.

Additionally, Hyundai Motor signed a business agreement with the Busan Port Authority last October and plans to verify the technology by carrying out demonstration projects to prevent collision accidents between industrial mobility vehicles and workers at Busan Port terminals and its hinterland complexes.