Hyundai Motor Group plans to introduce more than 25,000 Atlas humanoid robots into Hyundai Motor and Kia manufacturing plants. The company also aims to produce 350,000 actuator units annually, a key component for humanoid robots.
On June 18 (local time), Hyundai Motor Group held an investor relations (IR) event focused on its robotics strategy at the J.P. Morgan Conference in Boston.
During the event, Hyundai Motor and Kia announced plans to deploy over 25,000 Atlas robots across their production facilities, though they did not disclose specific factories or deployment timelines.
Industry observers believe the strategy is intended to achieve economies of scale by leveraging Hyundai and Kia's purchasing power, as production costs and selling prices for Atlas robots are expected to remain high in the early stages of mass production.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to establish a robot manufacturing system capable of producing 30,000 units annually by 2028.
The group also revealed plans to build a humanoid actuator manufacturing facility in the United States with an annual production capacity of more than 350,000 units. Operations are scheduled to begin in 2028.
As Hyundai gradually introduces Atlas robots into industrial environments starting in 2028, the company is also moving forward with plans to localize production of actuators, one of the robot's most critical components.
Actuators function as robotic joints and account for roughly 60% of the total manufacturing cost of a humanoid robot.
Hyundai Mobis, which is expected to supply actuators for Atlas, is also likely to oversee operation of the production facility. However, the group has not disclosed whether it will build a new factory or utilize existing component production lines.
Six Hyundai Motor Group affiliates participated in the event, including Hyundai Motor and Kia, Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai AutoEver, and Boston Dynamics.
Executive Chair Jaehoon Chang, Executive Vice President Kim Heung-soo of the Global Strategy Office (GSO), and Amanda McMaster, interim CEO of Boston Dynamics, were among the attendees.
Meanwhile, Kia CEO Song Ho-sung recently expressed confidence in the commercialization of Atlas during another overseas investor briefing.
“We plan to deploy Atlas robots on a large scale at our U.S. factories to accumulate operational data and secure safety verification over the next one to two years,” Song said.
He added, “Once the effectiveness of Atlas is proven, it can be easily expanded to other plants globally, since automotive factory layouts are largely similar worldwide.”
