The U.S. technology containment strategy against China has now extended to humanoid robots, cementing the view of automobiles, robotics, and artificial intelligence as a single “physical AI” ecosystem as the new standard across global industry. Following telecommunications equipment, drones, and connected cars, the inclusion of Chinese-made humanoid robots on the import restriction list is not merely a trade measure but an extension of the competition for leadership in future advanced industries, analysts say.<\/p>\n
Against this backdrop, Tesla and Hyundai Motor Group are poised for a head-on confrontation in the humanoid robot market. The two companies, which have already competed fiercely in the South Korean automotive market, are now preparing to square off in the new arena of humanoid robotics, each leveraging its own strengths.<\/p>\n
Tesla Extends EV Infrastructure into Robotics<\/p>\n
Tesla recently ended production of the Model S and Model X at its Fremont, California plant and is installing production equipment for its humanoid robot “Optimus.” The first-generation Fremont production line is designed for an annual capacity of 1 million units, while a second-generation line being prepared at the Texas plant is planned to eventually reach 10 million units per year.<\/p>\n
Tesla’s core advantage lies in its ability to directly apply technology and infrastructure developed for electric vehicles to robot development. Automotive batteries, power electronics, motors, gearboxes, software, and AI inference computers are all being applied to Optimus. The “Cortex 2” AI computing infrastructure in Texas, with over 115 megawatts (MW) of capacity, simultaneously supports autonomous driving and autonomous behavior software development for both vehicles and humanoids.<\/p>\n
Tesla plans to begin Optimus production within the year. Initial production units will not be sold externally but will be deployed to the “Optimus Academy” to collect robot learning data and develop capabilities. The goal is a general-purpose robot capable of handling dangerous or repetitive tasks. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has cited a post-mass-production price of $20,000 to $30,000 (approximately 28 million to 42 million won).<\/p>\n
Hyundai Motor Group Counters with Industrial Field Validation<\/p>\n
Hyundai Motor Group is placing emphasis on industrial deployment and validation. Boston Dynamics began production of its product-ready humanoid robot “Atlas” at its Boston headquarters in January. This year’s production volume will be supplied to RMAC, Hyundai Motor Group’s robot learning and validation facility, and to Google DeepMind, with external customer deliveries beginning early next year.<\/p>\n
Atlas stands 1.9 meters tall and weighs 90 kilograms, capable of momentarily lifting up to 50 kilograms. Battery life is four hours, but the robot can swap its own battery when power runs low. Hyundai Motor Group plans to establish a U.S. robot production system with annual capacity of 30,000 units by 2028. That same year, Atlas will be deployed at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in Georgia to handle parts sequencing, with the scope expanding to component assembly by 2030.<\/p>\n
Hyundai Motor Group’s strength lies in its global network of finished vehicle and parts plants, allowing Atlas to be deployed in real-world settings for iterative learning and performance improvement. The structure enables integration of Hyundai Mobis actuators, Hyundai Glovis logistics and supply chain capabilities, and Google DeepMind’s AI technology. Hyundai Motor Group has also invested in talent acquisition, hiring Milan Kovac\u2014who previously led Optimus development at Tesla\u2014as a group advisor and outside director of Boston Dynamics.<\/p>\n
Smart Factories Hold the Key to the Early Humanoid Market<\/p>\n
Industry observers believe the early humanoid market is more likely to form around smart factories than homes (smart homes). Factories with repetitive, standardized processes allow for standardized work environments and make cost-saving calculations from robot adoption straightforward. Homes, by contrast, present highly variable work environments, and consumers would bear the cost of both the robot and AI model operations, meaning mass adoption will take longer.<\/p>\n
As a result, learning data acquired from actual manufacturing processes and parts supply chains are expected to determine competitiveness in the future humanoid market. Simulation data alone has limits in adapting to the varying equipment and work environments across different factories.<\/p>\n
Choi Byung-ho, a professor at Korea University’s Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, said, “The largest market for humanoids right now is not the home but the smart factory, and at present, Hyundai Motor Group\u2014which can test robots in actual factories\u2014has an advantage over Tesla.” He added, “In the long term, competition with Chinese companies that are developing robot technology and parts supply chains under state leadership could become a bigger challenge.”<\/p>\n
Automobiles and Robots as a Single Industry<\/p>\n
Automobiles and humanoids are closer industries than one might think. Drive motors, reducers, batteries, power semiconductors, sensors, and software\u2014a significant portion of core technologies and supply chains overlap. If an automobile is a robot that runs on wheels, a humanoid can be described as a car that walks on two legs. The design, mass production, and quality control capabilities the automotive industry has accumulated over decades will remain powerful competitive advantages in the humanoid era.<\/p>\n
A bigger transformation is already underway on manufacturing floors. Some Chinese auto plants have automated most production processes with robots and autonomous guided vehicles, operating at levels approaching “dark factories” with virtually no human presence. When humanoids are deployed at scale, automation is expected to rapidly extend into areas that still require human hands\u2014assembly, transport, and inspection. A virtuous cycle becomes possible: humanoids build cars, and the automotive industry’s mass production systems in turn proliferate more humanoids.<\/p>\n
The rules of market competition are also changing. In the past, the winner was the company that built better cars. Going forward, companies with superior AI and robotics capabilities are likely to dominate even the automotive market. AI and control technologies accumulated through humanoid development will advance autonomous driving, while automotive mass production capabilities will lower robot manufacturing costs. It is a virtuous cycle in which automobiles and robots elevate each other’s competitiveness.<\/p>\n
Of course, there are mountains to climb. Time is needed before robots become a genuinely profitable business, and concerns about employment stability persist. But these are reasons to carefully calibrate the pace and manner of commercialization\u2014not grounds to deny the direction of change itself. An approach that advances both technological maturity and social acceptance is needed.<\/p>\n
The automotive industry is now expanding its domain from wheels to two legs. The winners of the future will not just be companies that make many cars, but those that build superior humanoids and use those humanoids to produce more competitive automobiles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. technology containment strategy against China has now extended to humanoid robots, cementing the view of automobiles,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[905,906,2600,15447,4299,295,702,293,40073,1223,2558,43842],"class_list":["post-128985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hyundai-motor","tag-atlas","tag-boston-dynamics","tag-elon-musk","tag-google-deepmind","tag-humanoid-robot","tag-hyundai","tag-hyundai-motor","tag-hyundai-motor-group","tag-optimus","tag-physical-ai","tag-tesla","tag-u-s-trade-representative"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}