Hyundai Motor Group said Friday it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National IT Industry Promotion Agency for strategic development and management for open source software.

Under the MOU, they will support each other to make use of open source softwares in the automotive manufacturing business to increase global competitiveness, as well as to establish a system for supply network of open source software, the carmaker said.

Open source software is based on publicly unveiled source code. Based on the source code, anyone can mutate the software but needs clear understanding of license on based copyright, according to Hyundai.

The automaker said amid accelerating convergence of automotive and ICT sectors, the need for effectively managing open source software has become significant.

Specifically, through the latest agreement, Hyundai will be able to support auto-making companies that develop new software to receive related education and learn about compliance and license verification tools.

“Through the MOU, we expect to see minimized legal risk over using open source software or breaching copyrights,” said a group official.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)