BUSAN — Nexen Tire is applying artificial intelligence directly to its research and development operations, shifting how its researchers work. Rather than relying on professional developers, working researchers are building and using the AI systems they need themselves, boosting research efficiency. The company plans to expand the effort into an in-house AI platform that will integrate technical documents and test data from its research centers at home and abroad.
Nexen Tire said on the 14th that it recently held an R&D AI Smart Work Contest at The Nexen University, its central research center in Magok, Seoul, and selected the best cases of AI use developed by its own researchers. The three winning entries were the OFFICE SOLUTION Integrated Portal, AI Racing Data Analysis and an automated laboratory equipment management system.
The first-place OFFICE SOLUTION Integrated Portal ties together scattered evaluation systems, allowing users to look up mail, schedules, budgets and test plans through an AI agent. Entries were judged on how they were applied in practice, the results they produced and their potential to spread across the company, with the aim of finding AI cases that can be put to immediate use.
What stands out about the contest is that all of the winning entries came from working researchers rather than a dedicated IT development unit. The company credits its adoption of ChatGPT Enterprise in May this year and the customized AI training it has since provided to office and research staff in South Korea.
Nexen Tire is also accelerating development of its own AI platform, centered on the central research center and built around AI agents and open-source large language models. The company plans to link technical documents from its research centers in the United States, China and Europe as well as the Magok facility in South Korea, so that researchers can search internal knowledge in natural language. Ultimately, it aims to create an environment where knowledge from technical documents can be compared and verified against actual test and measurement data in one place, supporting decisions across the entire process from materials research to tire development.
"The significance of this contest is that working researchers are building and using the systems they need for their own work," a Nexen Tire official said. "We will continue to build out our AI infrastructure to connect data and work areas that have been disconnected, and to support the development of safer and better tires."
