Hyundai SANTA FE XRT, DICE and SPACE Design Concepts Take Home Red Dot Awards

• SANTA FE XRT Concept recognized for meeting the diverse needs of outdoor enthusiasts and igniting spirit of adventure

• DICE praised for transforming autonomous driving with personalized services while green hydrogen-based fuel cell contributes to cleaner cities

• SPACE Mobility and Pavilion recognized for providing customized spatial experiences and supporting wide spectrum of users

Hyundai Motor Company today reaffirmed its global design leadership by receiving multiple 2024 Red Dot Awards. The Hyundai SANTA FE XRT Concept took the Design Concept award in the Cars and Motorcycles category, alongside Hyundai’s DICE and SPACE innovations in the Autonomous category.

“It’s an incredible honor to be recognized by the Red Dot Award for our innovative design concepts,” said SangYup Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of Hyundai and Genesis Global Design. “This accolade really shows the amazing achievements and dedication of our talented designers. They’ve worked tirelessly on these projects, hand in hand with our engineers at the R&D center. It also underscores the strong global competitiveness of Hyundai’s design identity.”

The SANTA FE XRT Concept, which made its debut alongside the SANTA FE in 2023, is designed to cater to the needs of outdoor enthusiasts. The rugged XRT Concept can handle challenging terrain with confidence and ease. The versatile SUV has been designed to ignite the ultimate adventure spirit and focuses on delivering utility, with chunky off-road wheels and tires, a rugged, roof-mounted luggage rack and more external storage.

Introduced at CES 2024, DICE (Digital Curated Experience) transforms autonomous mobility by offering personalized, optimized services. DICE offers sharing and subs-cription-based services, integrating with users’ personal devices seamlessly to offer a tailored experience. DICE extends the concept of a ‘smartphone on the road’, bringing a user focus to software-defined vehicles (SDVs) and enhancing user interaction through its innovative gesture-controlled 3D ‘Ring Pad’.

Powered by a green hydrogen-based fuel cell, DICE not only provides transport but also purifies the air, contributing to cleaner cities. Its robotics technology, including the Plug and Drive (PnD) module, facilitates flexible driving modes, such as diagonal driving and zero-turn capabilities, improving maneuverability. Hyundai Motor envisions DICE’s integrated technologies as crucial for a safe and sustainable future in mobility. 

Inside, DICE offers an immersive environment with ‘Natural Warmth’ design themes, featuring eco-friendly materials and biophilic elements, while its services adapt to users' needs through bio-signal tracking and artificial intelligence (AI) analysis.

Also introduced at CES 2024, SPACE (Spatial Curated Experience) Mobility is a multi-seater public mobility system that gives everyone unrestricted access to travel, including people with mobility impairments. The interior space is flexible and features an ‘Adaptive Seat’, while boarding height control allows easy access for wheelchair users and provides the perfect solution for last-mile mobility.

The SPACE Pavilion extension repurposes decommissioned SPACE modules to form a physical hub that can be transported easily to enhance usability in disadvantaged areas. A hydrogen fuel cell energy system supports charging for portable batteries, powering smart farms and air-cleaning algae modules using water by-products.

Hosted by Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Germany, the Red Dot Award is one of the world’s largest design competitions, encompassing three different disciplines — Product Design, Brand & Communication Design, and Design Concept. The Red Dot Award: Design Concept invites designers, design studios, companies and universities to present exciting design concepts and prototypes to an international panel of experts. For more information, please visit https://www.red-dot.org/