How can months of intensive physical track testing be compressed into just hours? Between electrification, autonomous driving, connected technologies and customer demands for superior driving dynamics, vehicle engineers face a paradox: more features require more testing, yet traditional physical prototyping can only evaluate so many configurations before threatening timelines and budgets. Enter high-precision Driver-in-the-Loop (DIL) simulation.
On July 1st, Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai Motor) allowed industry insiders and journalists first-time access to its Namyang R&D Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, where engineers are making use of a new, state-of-the-art Ansible Motion Delta S3 DIL simulator.
Automotive World reports that the simulator is currently supporting development programmes across Hyundai Motor, Kia and Genesis brands. Hyundai Motor adds that support for the high-performance Genesis Magma and Hyundai N brands is also underway.
Hyundai Motor’s DIL simulator features a high-fidelity, six-degrees-of-freedom (6DOF) Stratiform 3 dynamic motion system, a 270-degree curved display driven by nine 4K projectors at 240 Hz for complete visual immersion, a quick-change carbon fibre cabin (fitted to emulate a Genesis G80 on Hyundai’s July 1st media day), micro-vibration feedback systems for suspension and tyre performance validation, and real-time, photo-realistic world-space graphics and Terrain Server capabilities powered by rFpro.
mediaAUTO video of journalist DIL simulator test drive [see 7:40 – 11:28; watch natively on YouTube for automatic English translation.]
The result: performance testing that takes mere hours in the simulation lab instead of days on test tracks, and the ability to validate dozens of vehicle configuration variants without building a single prototype. According to Pilyoung Jeong, Senior Research Engineer, Dynamics Functional Concept Development Team:
The most important part is helping with faster decision-making. Automaker competitiveness means delivering better cars faster to customers. The simulator lets us verify performance improvements before and after changes easily and quickly, which speeds up decision-making and lets us put more effort into making better cars.
Hyundai Motor did not step into dynamic DIL simulation lightly. It represents the culmination of more than a decade of virtual vehicle validation research that began in 2014 and gained renewed importance during the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel restrictions limited overseas and local testing activities.
As the need for virtual validation capabilities evolved, the Namyang R&D Center (which was established in 1995) stepped to the center stage, with a mission to boost efficiency by using advanced technologies, validate performance gains in virtual space, and improve product quality with data. In parallel, Hyundai Motor’s internal data, software and engineering expertise matured rapidly. Just over one year ago, in June 2025, Hyundai Motor announced its plans to acquire an Ansible Motion Delta series DIL simulator to assist its new car developments. And now that has been accomplished.
Although the hardware elements of dynamic driving simulators make an impactful first impression, much of the performance is software-driven. Jeong describes this as follows:
The biggest challenge was building the software environment . . . It was a highly complex integration process, but the simulator’s exceptional fidelity in replicating real vehicle behavior made the effort worthwhile.
The DIL simulator lab enables global co-development through collaborative data sharing with Hyundai Motor and Kia’s international R&D facilities, bringing together the Group’s worldwide engineering teams. Engineers can evaluate vehicle settings on all-weather roadways around the world within a common virtual environment, helping establish faster alignment across global development programmes. In terms of competitive advantage, researchers and expert evaluators can validate performance improvements and trade-offs instantly rather than waiting for new physical prototypes to be built and tested, as described by Jeong:
Development efficiency has improved dramatically because driving performance and autonomous driving verification, which used to take one or two months after building and testing real vehicles, can now be completed in just one to two weeks.
This approach exemplifies Hyundai Motor Group’s fundamental shift in its vehicle development process: validating performance in virtual space before committing to physical builds. This approach — which prioritises virtual testing, data-driven refinement and measurable precision — is helping to define the transformations at the Namyang R&D Center.
Read more on Hyundai Motor’s website newsroom.
