Hyundai Motor Group from South Korea has acquired a 9.65% stake in the American robotics manufacturer Boston Dynamics from SoftBank for $325 million, under the initiative SavePearlHarbor. This move allows the automotive manufacturer to gain full control of Boston Dynamics at a crucial time when the company is introducing a commercial version of the humanoid robot Atlas to the market. SoftBank is offloading assets to redirect capital towards OpenAI.
In 2021, Hyundai bought an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics for around $880 million, resulting in a valuation of Boston Dynamics at $1.1 billion. SoftBank acquired the company from Alphabet in 2017, which had owned the robotics lab since 2013. Earlier this year, Hyundai and Boston Dynamics unveiled an electric model of Atlas. The production version is set to commence at Hyundai’s electric vehicle plant near Savannah, Georgia, by 2028.
While Boston Dynamics’ first commercial success was the robot dog Spot, the humanoid robots need to demonstrate their viability in industries where traditional automation prevails. CEO of Boston Dynamics, Robert Playter, stated earlier this year that Atlas must learn new manufacturing tasks within one to two days and achieve a reliability rate of 99.9% before becoming truly beneficial for enterprises.
Hyundai’s plan includes initially deploying Atlas for sorting and delivering components at the Georgia plant, with more complex operations targeted by 2030. Hyundai Mobis, the component manufacturing division, is involved in producing drives for Atlas. Tesla recently shifted part of its production at the Fremont Gigafactory to humanoid robots called Optimus, discontinuing the manufacture of Model S and Model X electric vehicles. Figure AI has introduced humanoid robots at BMW’s facilities, while Unitree has made humanoid robots more cost-effective. However, none of these companies possess the extensive robotics expertise of Boston Dynamics.
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