Rumor: Hyundai acquires robot maker Boston Dynamics

Hyundai Motor is reported to have acquired the American robot manufacturer Boston Dynamics from the Japanese Softbank for an amount of about 760 million euros. Hyundai wants to focus strongly on the production of robots.

The board of Hyundai Motor would like to finalize the plans for the acquisition on Thursday, writes The Korea Economic Daily. According to the Korean newspaper, the company would like to put on the table just under a trillion Korean won for Boston Dynamics; that equates to 760 million euros. The Robot Report reports that the acquisition plans have been confirmed.

Hyundai wants to bet heavily on robots. The company set up a dedicated robotics division in 2018. In the future, robots must provide 20 percent of the income. Cars would then have to account for half of the turnover and urban air mobility such as flying taxis the remaining 30 percent.

Boston Dynamics is an American manufacturer of advanced robots. The company gained fame with its Spot four-legged friend and humanoid robot Atlas, among other things. The company was acquired by Google in 2013, which sold it on to the Japanese Softbank in 2017.