Hyundai Motor Group is pivoting into a mobility solutions provider through new businesses in robots and artificial intelligence (AI). The shift comes as competitiveness in modes of transport now includes not only vehicle performance but also software, data, energy and automation capabilities. To preemptively respond to these changes, Hyundai Motor Group is pursuing timely investments, expanded partnerships and talent acquisition on all fronts.
Hyundai Motor Group's transformation took off at CES 2026 in the United States in January. There, it declared a transition from hardware- and mobility-centered Robotics to human-centered AI robotics. The goal is to advance robots' ability to collect data in real-world environments and move based on their own judgments, and to build an industrial ecosystem where people and robots work together.
Based on this strategy, Hyundai Motor Group is focusing on human-centered physical AI (AI that interacts directly with reality through physical entities such as Humanoid Robot and self-driving cars) through the group's value chain and broad product portfolio. The group secures the core data needed to realize physical AI across the entire value chain, including manufacturing, logistics and sales, digitizes it for AI training, and then applies it back to products, establishing a virtuous cycle.
Hyundai Motor Group is also pushing to establish the "Hyundai Motor Group Physical AI Application Center," which will help develop the domestic physical AI ecosystem, and, based on customer-tailored robot technologies secured through physical AI, will build a "robot finished-product manufacturing and foundry plant."
Boston Dynamics, Hyundai Motor Group's Robotics affiliate, is working to expand strategic partnerships with leading global AI corporations such as Google DeepMind to accelerate development of future humanoid technologies. On the 14th, it also released a video of the four-legged walking robot "Spot" powered by Google AI "Gemini." Using its onboard cameras and Gemini, it independently checked, recognized and carried out a to-do list written on a chalkboard.
In addition, Hyundai Motor Group and Boston Dynamics plan to systematically train the Humanoid Robot "Atlas" in the group's manufacturing environments to speed up human-robot collaboration. As part of this effort, they unveiled at CES 2026 a research Atlas model built to test core functions.
The research model can rotate most of its joints 360 degrees and has human-sized hands equipped with tactile sensors. A 360-degree camera enables easy situational awareness, it moves efficiently and stably with natural gait, and it performs fully autonomous actions on site. It can lift up to 50 kg and reach heights of 2.3 meters. Its durability allows full performance from minus 20 degrees to 40 degrees, and with waterproofing, it can be washed.
Building on this, Hyundai Motor Group plans to mass-produce a development model and deploy it widely in industrial sites. It will introduce next-generation electric Atlas development models at production hubs, including Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA), and gradually expand Atlas adoption through process-by-process validation. Starting in 2028, it will first apply the robots to processes with clearly verified safety and quality benefits, such as sequencing work for parts classification at HMGMA, and from 2030 it will broaden the scope to include parts assembly.
A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "Ultimately, robots will perform precise tasks with high mental and physical fatigue quickly and accurately," adding, "By taking on dangerous work that is hard for humans, they will strengthen workplace safety, and people will be able to teach and manage robots so they operate well on site, while performing higher value-added work in more comfortable environments."
To flesh out its robot commercialization strategy, Hyundai Motor Group in February announced a plan to build an innovation-growth base in Saemangeum. Starting this year, it will invest a total of 9 trillion won on a 1,124,000-square-meter site to create an AI data center and a robot manufacturing and parts cluster, among other facilities. In particular, the AI data center will be a key infrastructure for future technologies that process and store large-scale data needed for Autonomous Driving, Robotics and software-defined vehicle (SDV) development. The robot manufacturing and parts cluster will have production capacity for 30,000 units a year and foundry functions.
A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "With the largest-ever mid- to long-term domestic investment and continuous innovation, we plan to boost the vitality of the South Korean economy," adding, "We will also expand tariff support for partners and win-win cooperation programs to strengthen the global competitiveness of the domestic auto industry."