Tech giants Samsung and automaker Hyundai have announced a new partnership to integrate Samsung’s SmartThings smart home platform into Hyundai and Kia vehicles. The goal is to enable convenient home-to-car and car-to-home connectivity for drivers through features like remote air conditioning, smart lighting control, and more.

The companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding yesterday to collaborate on developing these connected car services. They plan to utilize Over-the-Air (OTA) updates and USB-based updates to bring SmartThings integration to existing Hyundai and Kia models where applicable.

While full details are still scarce, Samsung shared some examples of what the future SmartThings-connected driving experience could include:

• Controlling your car’s A/C, windows, and more from the SmartThings app before entering the vehicle
• Adjusting smart home devices like lights, TVs, and curtains by voice from inside the car
• Viewing live info from home like security camera feeds on the car’s display
• Using the car’s battery level and range to trigger home automation when leaving or arriving

Hyundai also pitched the value for drivers with use cases like:

• Turning on home A/C, air purifiers, robot vacuums, etc. when heading home in the car’s “Home Mode”
• Activating an “Away Mode” when leaving the house that turns off lights, starts the robot vac, and pre-cools the car

While the concept sounds promising, Samsung’s blog post made clear that these Connected Car services are still in early conceptual stages. All imagery shared was captioned as “examples” of “services to be developed”. Still, the partnership brings together two major players in tech and automotive spaces that have the resources to potentially turn this SmartThings-connected vision into reality down the road.