Hyundai unveils its all-new IONIQ 3 at Milan Design Week — the first compact EV in the IONIQ family. But the real news is Pleos Connect, the new operating system that finally fixes the brand’s weakest link.
- Pleos Connect: Hyundai’s new operating system, built on Android Automotive OS
- A zonal-controller electronic architecture, more modern and easier to update
- Canadian arrival unlikely, but Pleos will end up in the IONIQ models sold here
Hyundai unveiled the all-new IONIQ 3 on April 20, 2026, on the sidelines of Milan Design Week. It’s the smallest member of the IONIQ electric lineup, positioned below the IONIQ 5 and 6, and aimed primarily at urban European drivers, young families, and first-time EV buyers. The car will be built at the Izmit plant in Turkey, and its arrival in Canada remains unlikely in the short term — American tariffs, the public’s preference for SUVs, and nothing announced on this side of the Atlantic.
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That doesn’t mean we should ignore the story. Because if there’s one thing the IONIQ 3 brings that’s genuinely important for us, it’s not under the hood — it’s in the dashboard. The Pleos Connect system makes its debut here, and it will eventually find its way into the IONIQ 5, 6, and 9 models sold in Canada.
Pleos Connect: Hyundai (finally) catches up on software
For years, Hyundai and Kia have been delivering technically excellent electric vehicles. The E-GMP platform, ultra-fast 800 V charging on the IONIQ 5 and 6, energy efficiency on par with the best in the segment. But the moment you looked at the dashboard and infotainment system, you got the sense of a generational gap with what Tesla, Rivian, or even several European manufacturers were offering. Aging interface, classic electronic architecture with a multitude of dedicated control units and complex wiring.
Pleos is designed to fix both problems at once. On the hardware side, Hyundai adopts a zonal-controller architecture: instead of multiplying small control units throughout the car, the electronics are grouped by zone. Less wiring, less weight, less mechanical complexity — and above all, a platform that’s much easier to update over the lifetime of the vehicle. On the software side, Pleos is built on Android Automotive OS. Important distinction: this is not the same thing as Android Auto. AAOS runs natively in the car, independently of your phone. BMW, Volvo and Polestar have made the same call: Google platform underneath, in-house skin on top.
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One detail that’s still unsettled: Hyundai hasn’t confirmed whether the car will adopt Google Automotive Services (native Google Maps, Google Assistant, Play Store) or stick with its own ecosystem, including an in-house Hyundai App Market. That decision will have a real impact on the user experience.
Physical buttons as a selling point
The Pleos Connect interface looks at first like what you’d see in a Tesla or Rivian: large floating central screen (12.9 or 14.6 inches depending on trim) with a map as wallpaper and persistent controls along the bottom and left. A small driver display rounds it out.
But Hyundai makes a choice worth highlighting: the physical buttons stay. Volume knob, physical controls on the centre console. That’s exactly the opposite bet from Tesla and Polestar, who pushed the all-touchscreen logic to its limit. After several years of road-testing vehicles that bury the defroster controls three submenus deep, let’s just say the move is more than welcome. Advanced AI-based voice recognition (Gleo AI) rounds out the package, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are still supported for those who prefer their phone.
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To recap: the IONIQ 3 probably isn’t coming to Canada. But Pleos is. It’s the software backbone of every future EV from Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai, Kia, Genesis), and it’s the brand’s strategic answer to what had become, honestly, the main criticism you could level at it. The hardware was already there; what was missing was the software. With Pleos, Hyundai joins Mercedes (MB.OS), Tesla and Toyota (Woven by Toyota) in the race toward the software-defined vehicle.
Three questions to watch in the coming months: will Hyundai open up to Google Services or stay inside its closed ecosystem? How quickly will Pleos make its way into the IONIQ models sold here? And will the in-house app store deliver real, useful apps — or just another collection of unused icons? More on that to come.
For now, here’s the takeaway: Hyundai’s next step up in quality won’t come from the battery or the motor. It will come from the screen.
