Hyundai Motor has partnered with KT, specialty mobility company MTR, and smart classroom communication platform Kidsnote to begin developing a dedicated safe boarding and disembarking solution for children’s school vans. The core objective is to prevent incidents of children being left behind or neglected inside vehicles and to digitize the entire school transportation operation.
The four companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) the previous day at KT’s Gwanghwamun Building West office. Based on the Staria EV, they plan to develop and field-test school vans equipped with features including in-vehicle residual child detection and safety monitoring, real-time location sharing, automated boarding and disembarking confirmation with guardian alerts, and automatic trip logging.
Each company’s role is clearly defined. Hyundai Motor will supply the Staria EV and link vehicle data—including speed, engine status, and GPS—to the safe boarding and disembarking service. MTR will be responsible for applying child safety devices and handling school van manufacturing, certification, and sales. KT will provide the communications infrastructure and precision positioning technology connecting the vehicle and the service. Kidsnote will deliver real-time boarding, disembarking, and movement information for children to parents and teachers through its application, while also managing related records.
KT’s precision location service is based on “RTX Fast,” which utilizes satellite signal correction technology. It provides lane-level precision location information, enabling accurate tracking of school van routes. Going forward, ultra-wideband (UWB) and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technologies will also be applied to enhance the accuracy of in-vehicle residual child detection and automated boarding and disembarking alerts.
The four companies will also develop features that analyze children’s boarding, disembarking, and movement data to detect emergency situations. The vision is to evolve the school van from a simple means of transportation into a “moving children’s care platform” that manages the entire journey of a child. The partners plan to expand the scope of application to academy vehicles, welfare transport vehicles, and mobility assistance vehicles for people with reduced mobility.
Yeom Jae-seop, Senior Vice President and Head of Hyundai Motor’s Domestic Sales Division, said, “Through this collaboration, we will create a school transportation environment where children and guardians can feel safe, and expand our business as a solution provider that delivers tangible value to customers.”
Noh Hyung-rae, Senior Vice President and Head of KT’s Enterprise Business Division, said, “Building on KT’s communications and AI transformation capabilities and RTX Fast-based precision positioning technology, we will successfully implement the children’s school van service and expand the application of precision positioning across various mobility and industrial sectors.”
This collaboration comes amid recurring social concerns over incidents of children being left behind in school vans. The approach combines vehicle data, communications technology, and a user platform into an integrated safety solution designed to preemptively prevent such accidents. In particular, the in-vehicle residual child detection feature is expected to work by having sensors and AI verify whether a child remains inside the vehicle after the driver has exited, then alerting guardians accordingly.
Hyundai Motor views this school van solution as part of its purpose-built vehicle (PBV) strategy, which combines vehicle data and software. The company plans to strengthen its position as a solution provider by extending technologies and service models validated in the children’s school transportation segment to other mobility demand areas.