Hyundai Mobis Company Limited (Hyundai Mobis) Holds 'Mobility App Hackathon' for Employees; AI Vehicle Diagnostics App 'Mobidick' Wins

[Financial News] Hyundai Mobis said on the 28th that it had held the '2026 Mobility Application Hackathon,' a vehicle app competition, to build employees' software capabilities and broaden its development culture. The event has employees develop apps for vehicles and compete for top honors, with software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and artificial intelligence (AI) as its themes.
Any Hyundai Mobis employee can participate, regardless of their job function. The aim is to give employees development experience and an opportunity to develop their ideas as software grows in importance.
A total of 67 teams took part this year. Over about five weeks starting in September, they developed apps through the preliminary and main rounds. After judging, the 10 teams that advanced to the final presented the purpose behind their projects, followed by an awards ceremony.
'Mobidick,' an AI-powered vehicle diagnostics app, took the top prize. Other apps selected as outstanding entries included 'MobiMon,' which presents vehicle information through characters, and 'Car D Maker,' which uses AI to summarize driving records and turn them into collectible cards.
Hyundai Mobis encouraged participants to experience a range of development environments and helped them work toward turning their apps into real-world services. Participants used InfoLink, a development platform dedicated to infotainment; IDE Link, a web-based cloud development system; and an on-device AI SDK for vehicles, among other tools.
InfoLink is a platform Hyundai Mobis developed in-house for Android Automotive OS (AAOS). Apps built on the platform connect with vehicle information to control various functions. Passengers can easily update the programs through an app marketplace.
IDE Link is also a cloud development environment developed in-house by Hyundai Mobis. The company says it boosts productivity and accessibility by allowing developers to write and validate code from anywhere simply by accessing an internet browser.
The on-device AI SDK is a development tool for adding AI functions to apps. It can support services such as conversational AI and help recognize the voices, hand gestures, facial expressions and gaze of drivers and passengers. Hyundai Mobis said that because the AI runs inside the vehicle without an external server, it operates reliably regardless of communications conditions and offers privacy benefits.
A Hyundai Mobis representative said, "We are working to secure new technologies that will shape the performance and passenger experience of future mobility, including vehicle electronic control technologies, to strengthen our competitiveness in automotive electronic components and software." The representative added, "We immediately turn employees' ideas into projects to assess their feasibility, and comprehensively evaluate their business potential through contests and other means."
Meanwhile, separately from the hackathon, Hyundai Mobis is also working to cultivate automotive software talent in South Korea. The MOBIUS Bootcamp provides specialized software training to job seekers and employees of partner companies, and is a mutually beneficial initiative that connects young people seeking employment with partner companies in need of talent.
[email protected] Kim Dong-chan Reporter