Boston Dynamics’ humanoid Atlas lifts an entire 23-kilogram compact refrigerator and moves it onto a table on the 18th. Hyundai Motor
In an interview with a foreign media outlet last month, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chairman Euisun Chung named robotics as the group’s top future growth engine, stressing that “robotics and physical artificial intelligence (AI) are at the center of Hyundai’s evolution beyond mobility.”
Hyundai Motor Group’s decision on Wednesday to establish a new dedicated production facility for robot components with an annual capacity of 350,000 units represents a further concretization of Chung’s robotics vision. The group plans to internalize core components and build a mass production system to deploy humanoid robots at manufacturing sites in a timely manner.
Hyundai Motor Group had previously unveiled a blueprint to produce 30,000 robots in the United States by 2028 and to deploy Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot Atlas across manufacturing processes including Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA). Locating a robot parts production plant in the U.S. as well offers the advantages of reducing logistics costs and minimizing supply chain risks. With uncertainty in the global logistics environment heightened by the recent Middle East conflict, the need to build a local manufacturing value chain has grown even greater. The robot parts plant is expected to produce actuators, a core component used in Atlas.
Hyundai Motor Group disclosed for the first time on the same day that local Hyundai and Kia plants will initially secure 25,000 robots, equivalent to 83% of the 30,000 units of annual production capacity. With Hyundai Motor Group’s labor union strongly opposing the deployment of robots at production sites due to concerns over employment impacts, it remains difficult to roll out the robotics business domestically.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to expand U.S. vehicle production to 1.2 million units by 2030, an increase of about 300,000 units from current levels. To improve productivity in line with this expansion, there is a strong need to expand local robot production bases. Humanoid robots can effectively work 24 hours a day, excluding battery replacement time.
Hyundai Motor Group is reviewing both the option of converting existing automotive parts lines in the U.S. into dedicated robot parts lines and the option of building a new dedicated plant. The new production facility will be operated by Hyundai Mobis, a key group affiliate. A Hyundai Mobis official said, “We are regularly meeting with automakers and startups in places such as Silicon Valley to broadly discuss mid- to long-term business strategies.”
Industry observers say Hyundai’s robotics business is rapidly gaining momentum. Hyundai showcased its technological capabilities by releasing a video on its official YouTube channel showing Atlas lifting and moving an entire compact refrigerator. The demonstration proved that Atlas possesses the whole-body control and object manipulation capabilities required at industrial sites. Boston Dynamics said Atlas learned the movement in just a few weeks through large-scale simulation-based reinforcement learning, successfully moving a refrigerator weighing up to 45 kilograms during the training. Hyundai said, “We are collaborating with Google DeepMind to accelerate the development of future humanoid technology,” adding, “We will accelerate the great transformation of industry by integrating cutting-edge robots with robot AI technology.”
In the market, expectations are growing that as Hyundai’s robotics business gains pace, the timeline for the listing of Boston Dynamics, which has led the business, will also become more concrete. Adding weight to this view is the fact that key group leaders—including Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Jaehoon Chang, Global Strategy Office (GSO) head and Senior Vice President Kim Heung-soo, and Boston Dynamics Interim CEO Amanda McMaster—turned out in full force at a recent investor relations event on robotics for institutional investors. Boston Dynamics’ enterprise value, estimated at $1.1 billion (about 1.2482 trillion won) when Hyundai Motor Group acquired it in 2021, is now estimated to have risen by at least several dozen times.