Boston Dynamics, the company that gave us dancing robots, is now under the control of Hyundai Motor Group following the completion of an acquisition that valued the robot maker at $1.1 billion.
Hyundai acquired the controlling 80% stake from Softbank in a deal that was announced back in December last year. The remaining 20% is owned by a Softbank affiliate. At the time the deal was struck, Hyundai stated its intention to advance robotics and mobility “to realize progress for humanity.” The technology Boston Dynamics has developed since it was founded in 1992 will be used by Hyundai across a range of areas including autonomous vehicles, urban air mobility (UAM), and smart factories.
In the press release, Hyundai also pointed to the strengths of both companies complimenting each other, especially in the areas of manufacturing, logistics, construction, and automation. We should expect a complete robotics value chain to be created inside Hyundai, which ranges from robot component manufacturing right through to smart logistics.
In many such acquisitions, the technology and talent can quickly disappear inside the larger company. However, Hyundai looks to be very keen to keep on developing advanced robotics technology so hopefully that won’t happen to the team at Boston.
