Mercedes-Benz Korea said Wednesday it has kicked off its Connected Car Startup Hackathon, a competition between startups to develop connected car services for innovative future mobility.

The 48-hour nonstop event is taking place at the EQ Future Pavilion set up by the automaker in Sinsa-dong, Seoul. Nine startups that develop and produce connected car technologies such as mobility, UX, maintenance and charging have made it to the final, the company said.

The event was organized in a joint partnership with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups to vitalize the startup ecosystem in the field of mobility here. 

The winning team will be given funds worth 200 million won ($170,000) and a prize from the Startups Ministry. Also, opportunities of actual application of the team’s services to Mercedes-Benz’s vehicles will be offered to teams with outstanding performance, after reviewing the customer benefits, technical feasibility and potential commercialization of the technology, Mercedes-Benz Korea said. 

“The hackathon event that will produce new ideas to lead our future being held at EQ Future pavilion holds significance as the pavilion has been arranged to present Mercedes-Benz’s strategy and vision for future mobility,” said President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Korea Dimitris Psillakis.

“We are looking forward to a healthy competition and passion from participating startup teams so that the ‘open innovation’ startup ecosystem can be vitalized.” 

(ddd@heraldcorp.com)