- New businesses to be pioneered on AI, voice recognition, and robots as a turning point in the stagnant elevator industry
- Converging elevators with IT innovations to provide consumers with efficiency, convenience, and stability

#1. Resident A who lives on the 20th floor of a 20-year-old apartment building now rushes less in the morning. All thanks to the elevator voice call system. Time passes by so quickly in the morning as he tries to catch the bus after organizing the house and getting his child ready for daycare. He can’t help but sigh every time he sees the elevator on the B1 floor. Now, he is so grateful for the elevator that arrives with a single call from the living room.
#2. Nurse B works in a blood collection room at a hospital. She has to keep walking up and down the stairs to deliver collected samples to a testing room on another floor. Now, a robot does the job for her. It does not only regularly collect and deliver samples, but even helps dispose medical waste such as used syringes, improving the efficiency. (*A hypothetical example of the Hyundai Elevator-KT DX expansion that is under development and research.)

IoT, artificial intelligence, contactless technology, and the use of robots are changing the paradigm of elevators. On the 29th, Hyundai Elevator (CEO Seung-Bong Song) and KT (CEO Hyun-mo Gu) signed an MOU for the Elevator Digital Transformation(DX) Expansion business at the KT Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul. It announced its new business that combines elevators with AI, voice recognition, and automatic driving robots by exchanging each company’s technology. Hyundai Elevator’s CEO Seung-Bong Song, KT‘s Head of Business Planning Unit Jong-Uk Park, and other executive members of each company attended the ceremony.
In the past, the elevator industry focused on its speed. It is now expanding new business potential, evolving into e-mobility along with the development of the fourth industrial wave technologies. IT is used in various areas. It is used to allow people to take elevators without contact by using their voices and cell phones. It is incorporated into customer interaction services where robots automatically use the elevator to deliver parcels and food to the customer. It also increases efficiency and helps with maintenance and security through data analysis.
Hyundai Elevator’s CEO Seung-Bong Song commented that “we are developing Vertical e-Mobility products and services that provide convenience and safety to the customer by combining elevators with IT”. He added that “this will become a turning point to the stagnant elevator industry”.
“The remote maintenance technology of the industry’s front-runner, Hyundai Elevator, and KT’s digital platform (Digico) technology will be combined to improve its competitive edge in the DX field,” said KT ‘s Business Planning Unit VP Jong-Uk Park. “We will continue to expand various cooperative projects using AI, big data, and cloud technologies, which are the core competencies of KT”.
Hyundai Elevator will develop its open application programming interface (API), which can be linked with various applications, by September this year. It will apply KT’s voice recognition and robot technology to pursue DX expansion in various spaces with elevators such as apartments, hotels, and buildings. It also plans to develop a personalized elevator based on facial recognition technology that analyzes the passenger’s condition to adjust lighting or provide music or contents.