Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., South Korea's leading automobile manufacturers, have significantly increased their data security-related investments in recent years in line with the strengthening of software capabilities in their vehicles, industry data showed Tuesday.According to the Korea Internet and Security Agency's corporate information protection portal, Hyundai Motor and Kia's combined data security investment for last year amounted to 42.5 billion won (US$30.7 million).The combined figure represents a 25 percent increase from 34 billion won the previous year and a 84 percent increase from 23.1 billion won in 2021.Per individual company, Hyundai invested 25.2 billion won in data security last year, up 20 percent from 2022. Kia's investment stood at 17.3 billion won, marking a 32.9 percent on-year increase.The investment hikes come in line with Hyundai Motor Group's vision to transition its automobiles into so-called software-defined vehicles, centering around data and artificial intelligen ce, that can operate safely and efficiently.Hyundai and Kia's increased investments in data security are noteworthy, considering that the average investment for South Korean manufacturing firms in the area fell to 1.4 billion won last year from 1.7 billion won in 2022.Last year, Hyundai and Kia's workforce related to data security stood at around 180, up 76 percent from 105 in 2021.Earlier this year, Euisun Chung, Hyundai Motor Group's executive chair, emphasized the importance of maintaining security consciousness in corporate operations and called for the strengthening of data security measures to ensure sustainable growth for the group.Source: Yonhap News Agency