Hyundai develops child-safe boarding and location-sharing system as Korea’s ‘yellow academy bus’ fleet reaches 25,000

Korea’s kindergartens, academies and schools operate more than 31,000 student transport vehicles, including 17,344 academy buses. Yet even with a national system that provides basic vehicle information, training records and insurance details, parents still have reasons to worry.

Hyundai Motor says it will work with KT, children’s education platform Kids Note and vehicle conversion specialist MTR to develop a dedicated safety solution for children’s school buses. The companies signed a memorandum of understanding on building a new vehicle and safety model that links transport data with services for children and their guardians.

The new vehicle will use Hyundai’s Staria EV electric van as its foundation. Planned features include detecting children left inside the vehicle, monitoring safety conditions, sharing live location data, confirming boarding and disembarking automatically, sending alerts and recording driving logs without manual input. The companies will conduct demonstration operations to improve both child safety and the convenience of running the vehicles.

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Hyundai’s multipurpose vehicles are more than simple means of transportation. They are a central link connecting customers’ daily lives and services.

Hyundai will use vehicle data such as speed, ignition status and GPS information to develop the boarding and disembarking functions. MTR, which sells a Staria EV-based academy vehicle called Kidion equipped with child-exit detection devices and dedicated child seats, will add other safety equipment designed for children. KT will provide the communications infrastructure linking the vehicle to the safety service, while Kids Note will deliver school-commuting information to parents and teachers in real time through its app.

Yeom Jae-seop, Hyundai’s senior vice president for domestic sales, said the company’s multipurpose vehicles should connect customers’ daily lives and services rather than serve only as transportation. He said the partnership would help create a school-commuting environment in which children and guardians can feel secure, while expanding Hyundai’s role as a provider of practical solutions.

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Through this cooperation, we will create a school-commuting environment in which children and guardians can feel secure and continue expanding our business as a solution provider that delivers practical value to customers.