Samsung Electronics on Monday launched the Car-to-Home service in cooperation with Hyundai Motor Group, allowing users to control home appliances from inside a vehicle. The service is a reverse connection of Home-to-Car, introduced in September last year, completing a smart home ecosystem linking home and vehicle in both directions. Through the SmartThings app installed in Hyundai and Kia infotainment systems, users can directly control air conditioners, air purifiers, robot vacuum cleaners and lights from the vehicle screen.

Subscribers to Hyundai Bluelink and Kia Connect can link their accounts by scanning a QR code displayed in the SmartThings app on the vehicle infotainment screen with a smartphone. The service applies to Hyundai and Kia vehicles equipped with the ccNC (connected car Navigation Cockpit) infotainment platform that have been mass-produced since November 2022, and will be expanded sequentially through software updates. Controllable appliances are certain air conditioner models produced since 2021 and certain air purifier and robot vacuum cleaner models manufactured since 2024.

Car-to-Home also supports location-based automation. Users can use SmartThings' Smart Routines in the vehicle in the same way, so preset return-home and going-out routines run automatically based on the vehicle's GPS location. When a vehicle enters the area near home on the way back, the air purifier turns on and the lights come on. In summer, the air conditioner can run in advance to lower the indoor temperature. When a vehicle moves away from home when going out, an "away mode" turns on, switching off lights and unnecessary appliances and activating the robot vacuum cleaner.

Home-to-Car, meanwhile, is a service that allows users to check a vehicle's status in the SmartThings app and control air conditioning, engine start, door lock and unlock, and starting and stopping electric vehicle charging, and has been in operation since last year. Samsung Electronics plans to expand linkage between its smart home platform and the mobility ecosystem through the two-way connection of Home-to-Car and Car-to-Home.

Jae-yeon Jung (정재연), a vice president on the SmartThings team at Samsung Electronics' AI Platform Center, said the launch of Car-to-Home goes beyond adding functions and helps customers fully enjoy a single daily routine across home and vehicle. He said Samsung will continue to work closely with Hyundai Motor Group to steadily expand a differentiated connected experience linking mobility and residential environments.