Gasgoo Munich- For over a century, car development remained a "no entry" zone for the average consumer. From blueprints and clay models to engineering verification and road tuning, every step unfolded behind closed factory gates, driven by engineers and designers in an internal loop. It wasn't until a new model rolled off the assembly line and hit showrooms that users could actually touch it.
As for having a say in how those cars were built? Forget it. Their role was limited to selecting trim levels, paying the bill, and taking delivery—then praying nothing went wrong. They would then wait another three to five years for a facelift or next-generation redesign.
This "develop first, verify later" workflow functioned adequately enough in the internal combustion engine era. But in the era of Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs), where cabin features iterate monthly or even weekly, and Over-the-Air (OTA) updates allow cars to evolve after delivery, technology has outpaced user feedback. The fundamental flaw of "build first, ask later" is now fully exposed: engineers' "innovations" aren't necessarily what users want, while genuine user needs have gone unheard.
Image source: Hyundai Motor Company
Driven by a clear understanding of this industry dilemma, Hyundai Motor Group recently inaugurated its first user experience research hub in China—UX STUDIO—in Shanghai's Jing'an District. This is no mere brand experience center or a survey outpost; it is a systematic attempt to turn "user co-creation" from a marketing slogan into a standardized R&D mechanism. Its core mission is singular: let users genuinely "get their hands dirty" in the R&D process, prying open that airtight "black box" of car development.
Breaking Walls and Reconstructing: Embedding the "User Voice" into the R&D Cycle
The most fundamental shift brought by UX STUDIO Shanghai is the timing of intervention. Traditional user research invites consumers to "find problems" only after a product plan is solidified, relegating users to a passive feedback role with negligible impact on the final product. UX STUDIO emphasizes "user co-creation," involving users deeply at every stage—from need-finding and problem definition to brainstorming, prototyping, and mass-production verification. Users are no longer "inspectors" but "co-developers." As one researcher on site noted, there is an "essential difference" between the two.
This philosophy is housed in a carefully designed, multi-tiered spatial system. The first-floor Open Lab is open to the public with zero barriers, featuring UX exploration, verification, and archive zones. It gathers broad mobility demands through lightweight scenario experiences and interactive questionnaires, forming trend insights. The second-floor Advanced Lab, by contrast, invites deep-dive users. Equipped with variable prototype cockpits and high-fidelity driving simulation platforms, it conducts precise co-creation testing for specific R&D projects, outputting actionable optimization suggestions.
Yang Feng, Vice President of Hyundai Motor Group, explained that this system creates a "complete research loop from public insight to deep verification," balancing the breadth of public participation with the depth of professional research.
Image source: Hyundai Motor Company
Supporting this loop are two robust technical foundations. The variable space prototype verification system uses modular rapid prototyping to quickly simulate everything from compact sedans to large MPVs. Steering wheels, seats, and screens are all fully adjustable, drastically compressing R&D iteration cycles. Meanwhile, the high-fidelity driving simulation platform features a dynamic base and large curved screens, realistically recreating Chinese urban roads, highways, and complex weather conditions. This allows for the verification of HMI and ADAS user experiences in a safe environment. User feedback no longer needs to be "translated" into engineering language; it is validated directly on perceptible prototypes.
If "breaking the wall" solves the question of when users participate, the next challenge is even more critical: once user voices are heard, how can they truly drive R&D decisions instead of languishing in a research report? This involves the deeper institutional design of UX STUDIO Shanghai—a closed loop for local insight and conversion.
Deepening and Converting: Letting Local Insights Drive R&D Commands
The biggest struggle for multinational automakers in China is often the poor fit of "global solutions with local tweaks." UX STUDIO Shanghai aims to fundamentally break this old path, achieving full-link localization from operations teams and cooperative ecosystems to research topics.
The decision to locate in Shanghai was itself the result of multiple strategic considerations. As a national high-tech hub, Shanghai offers a diverse pool of user samples, including young commuters, multi-child families, female users, and tech enthusiasts. The mature digital technology and intelligent connected vehicle supply chain in the Yangtze River Delta facilitates linkage with local innovation resources. Furthermore, Shanghai's open and inclusive urban character aligns highly with the concept of "open user co-creation."
The depth of localization was evident even during the preparation phase. The team delved into Chinese social development trends and travel habits, adapting the cabin space and research content with a full set of localizations. They identified four highly representative local trends: "emotional care, women prioritizing self-fulfillment, natural healing, and health and wellness."
Jin Liyin, a professor at the School of Management of Fudan University, noted that these trends did not emerge from thin air. They are the result of deep industry-university-research cooperation between Hyundai Motor and Fudan University, distilled from real-life scenarios and value demands. These insights have now landed in the "UX Exploration Zone" of UX STUDIO Shanghai, seamlessly connecting academic insight, user co-creation, and product R&D.
Image source: Hyundai Motor Company
On a tangible level, these local insights have translated into verifiable features: seat adjustments based on emotional care, immersive sensory modes built around natural healing, and cabin designs optimized for female users. Specialized adaptations for rear-facing seating and removable tray boards cover scenarios like business negotiations, family outings, and leisure travel. Interaction sound effects and vehicle NVH solutions are tuned specifically to match Chinese auditory habits. Future iterations will continue to address emerging scenarios such as camping, multi-child family travel, and in-vehicle working.
But insight alone isn't enough—whether user voices are truly "written" into the R&D process depends on the conversion mechanism. UX STUDIO Shanghai has established a three-tier implementation chain: broad insights from the first floor feed into the next-generation product feature pool; second-floor project test results sync directly with corresponding project teams for pre-launch iteration; and feedback on mass-produced models becomes a core source for OTA updates. As a Hyundai UX STUDIO researcher emphasized, "User co-creation isn't just about listening; it's about genuinely writing into the development process." User voices are mined deep, translated into real needs, connected to new feature definitions, and implemented jointly with R&D colleagues.
When users truly participate in development and local insights can drive decisions, the significance of UX STUDIO Shanghai extends beyond the Chinese market itself—it begins to answer a more ambitious proposition: Can the Chinese user experience become a force in defining global automotive forms?
Sourcing and Sublimation: From "China Practice" to "Global Paradigm"
The inauguration of UX STUDIO Shanghai is more than the completion of a single facility; it marks Hyundai Motor Group's strategic shift from "In China, For China" to a tangible, deepening presence that also serves the globe. To date, Hyundai has built a global UX co-creation matrix covering Seoul, Frankfurt, Irvine, and Shanghai. The Shanghai hub is not merely a regional outpost—it is the core source for the group's global function and service innovation.
Lee Jong-won, Head of Feature & CCS at Hyundai Motor Group, stated clearly in his opening address that the Shanghai hub will bear the core mission of listening closely to Chinese users and deeply integrating their needs into products and services. This "two-way cycle" mechanism is particularly noteworthy: Shanghai shares a unified R&D methodology with global centers while exporting local insights to the global system, creating a collaborative pattern where "global resources empower the local, and local innovation feeds back to the global."
Xu Zaihao, Chief Technology Officer of Hyundai Motor Group's China region, further elaborated that the Shanghai site serves as both a frontline for precise Chinese user insight and a feedback loop to the global R&D system, continuously practicing the strategic vision of "based in China, serving China, and empowering the world." Leveraging a unified global R&D methodology and technical foundation, the mobility insights, cabin optimization schemes, and human-machine interaction standards distilled in Shanghai will be fed into the global R&D network, empowering overseas model development—moving from "global solutions with local tweaks" to "Chinese insights, global sharing."
Image source: Hyundai Motor Company
Behind this layout lies a deep recognition of China's strategic value. As the market with the fastest iteration in intelligent electrification and the richest mobility scenarios, Chinese demand for multi-screen interaction, full-scenario voice, in-vehicle ecosystem interconnection, and high-frequency OTA updates remains at the global forefront. Incorporating the Shanghai hub into the core level of the global R&D layout means that Chinese voices will directly participate in defining the future form of global models. According to plans, future operations will continue to expand around three directions: regular experience updates, deepened local research, and global two-way collaboration.
While the industry races to compare chip computing power, screen sizes, and range, Hyundai has chosen to return to the origin of user experience, reconstructing R&D logic through systematic user co-creation. Shifting from a manufacturing mindset of "I build what you buy" to a user-oriented approach of "I build what you need," UX STUDIO represents not just a research transformation for one automaker, but an evolutionary direction for the entire automotive industry in the intelligent age. After all, hardware can be replicated, but user insight cannot.
