Positiveflow, Wearby, Jarvis gain independence

44 spinoffs to date; up to 300 million won ($197,000) in development support offered

The logo of Positiveflow. [Hyundai Motor Group]
The logo of Positiveflow. [Hyundai Motor Group]

Hyundai Motor Group announced Thursday that it has spun off three in-house startups as independent companies through its internal startup development program, Zero One Company Builder.

The three newly independent firms are Positiveflow, a developer of sleep environment improvement solutions; Wearby, an industrial workplace safety technology company; and Jarvis, a provider of automotive software development solutions.

Positiveflow is developing a smart mattress system that uses AI sensors to analyze a user's sleep state and automatically adjust temperature and humidity. Users can also check sleep data and control their environment through a smartphone application.

The company is currently in discussions with Hyundai E&C on collaboration in the sleep-tech sector. Sleep tech — a recently coined term for products and services that use advanced technology to improve sleep quality — has been drawing growing attention.

Wearby develops industrial workplace safety technology using ultra-wideband (UWB)-based high-precision location sensors. The system attaches sensors to worker equipment such as hard hats and vests, as well as to industrial vehicles including automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and trucks, enabling two-way UWB signal exchange. The company has also developed a method that links workers' smartphones directly to industrial vehicles without requiring separate sensor hardware.

The goal is to measure the distance between people and vehicles to within a 10-centimeter margin of error to prevent collisions. The company is currently running a pilot project to prevent forklift-worker collisions on the production line at Kia's Hwaseong PBV Conversion Center.

Jarvis provides standard design tools and coding automation programs for automotive software development. The company focuses on reducing errors that arise from non-standard specification writing and manual coding processes in the automotive industry.

Jarvis's software technology is expected to prove useful for auto parts suppliers struggling with the transition to software-defined vehicles (SDVs). The company recently completed software development pilot projects for electronic control units (ECUs) with Hyundai Motor and Kia suppliers including DH Lighting, Pyeonghwa Automotives and Keyang Electric Machinery.

The latest spinoffs bring the total number of in-house startups to have gained independence from Hyundai Motor Group to 44. The group launched its internal startup development initiative in 2000 under the name "Venture Plaza" and expanded and restructured the program as Zero One Company Builder in 2021.

Selected startups receive up to 300 million won ($197,000) in development funding and go through a one-year commercialization process before a decision is made on whether to spin off or commercialize internally. Employees who spin off may also rejoin the group within three years.

"We will continue to actively pursue open innovation and steadily produce innovative and creative startups across diverse fields," said Noh Gyu-seung, executive director of the Zero One division at Hyundai Motor and Kia's Future Strategy Headquarters.

Meanwhile, Zero One, Hyundai Motor Group's open innovation platform, has continued its support activities across a range of sectors — including backing startup exhibitions in AI, energy, robotics and quantum computing alongside Hyundai Cradle at CES 2026 earlier this year.


eyre@heraldcorp.com