Nexen Tire accelerates R&D smart work, advancing an AI system led by in-house researchers

[Financial News] Nexen Tire is accelerating a sweeping transformation of its research and development (R&D) operations by having in-house researchers lead the practical application of artificial intelligence (AI). Beyond simply introducing ChatGPT, the company plans to build its own AI platform covering global technical documents and experimental data, thereby enhancing decision-making across the tire-development process.
Nexen Tire announced on the 14th that it recently held the “R&D AI Smart Work Competition” at THE NEXEN univerCITY, its central R&D center in Magok, Seoul. The competition was organized to identify cases in which researchers applied AI to their own work and expand practical applications across the company.
First place went to the “Office Solution Integrated Portal,” which consolidates scattered evaluation-work systems and allows users to retrieve emails, schedules, budgets, test plans, and other information through AI agents. “AI Racing Data Analysis” and an “Automated Laboratory Equipment Management System” were also selected as outstanding examples.
The most notable aspect was that all of the winning projects were developed directly by in-house R&D personnel, rather than professional developers.
This followed the company-wide expansion of its internal infrastructure, including the introduction of ChatGPT Enterprise in May and AI training for management and research staff. Nexen Tire has also begun developing its own platform that combines AI agents with open-source large language models (LLMs), with its Magok central R&D center serving as the hub.
The company plans to create an environment where technical documents from global research centers in Korea, the United States, China, Europe, and elsewhere can be searched in natural language, while internal knowledge and actual measurement data can be compared and analyzed in one place. The system will support decision-making across the entire process, from materials research to tire development.
A Nexen Tire official said, "The significance of this competition is that in-house researchers, rather than professional developers, are directly creating and using the systems they need for their work." The official added, "We will continue building AI infrastructure, including ChatGPT Enterprise and our own work platform, to connect previously siloed data and work areas and develop safer, higher-quality tires."
[email protected] Dong-ho Kim Reporter