Why your next Hyundai could be a robot - no, seriously

“We build trustworthy robots. We will not weaponise our robots.”

It sounds like a script for the opening scene of a futuristic movie where a robotics company executive is making a sales pitch to a client just before all the robots go berserk. But it’s real, these promises appear on the website of Boston Dynamics, the robotics firm that’s just been bought by Hyundai. What does a car company want with robots? We found out.   

It was late last year when CarsGuide approached Hyundai’s headquarters in South Korea wanting to know why it was buying Boston Dynamics – the company that’s at the very cutting edge of the cutting edge of robotics.  

Hyundai told us at the time that it couldn’t comment on the matter until the deal had been completed. Skip forward eight months and the $1.5b deal is complete and Hyundai now own an 80 per cent stake in the company which brought us Spot the yellow robot dog… and we have the answers to our questions.

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What we now know is Hyundai sees robotics as the key to its future and cars are just part of it.

“Hyundai Motor Group is enhancing its capabilities in robotics as one of the future growth engines and aims to offer new types of robot services such as industrial robots, healthcare robots and personal humanoid robots,” Hyundai HQ told CarsGuide. 

“The Group is developing wearable robots and has a future roadmap to develop service robots for personal and commercial applications as well as micro-mobility technology.”

We get the feeling that Hyundai’s robots are going to more than just gimmicks in the way Honda’s funny-walking Asimov was and more recently Toyota’s basketball dunking bot is. 

But what about cars? Well, like Ford, Volkswagen and Toyota, Hyundai has started calling itself a “mobility provider” and that seems to indicate a wider approach to vehicles rather than just making private-use cars.

“Hyundai Motor Group strategically aims to transform itself from a conventional automobile manufacturer to a Smart Mobility Solution Provider,” we were told by Hyundai’s HQ. 

“To propel this transformation, the Group has invested substantially in the development of future technologies, including robots, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence (AI), Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and smart factories. The Group considers robotics as one of the most important pillars to transform into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider.”

At last year’s CES, Hyundai Motor Group chairman Euisun Chung outlined his vision of a so-called Urban Air Mobility system, connecting personal air vehicles to ground-based autonomous purpose-built vehicles.

Mr Chung, by the way, owns a 20 per cent stake in Boston Dynamics.

When pressed harder on what advances in cars can we expect to see come out of the Boston Dynamics deal, it appeared that Hyundai wasn’t very sure, but was hoping they might be able to score better self-driving technology and possibly the know-how for personal air vehicles – yep flying cars. 

“Hyundai Motor Group is initially reviewing various opportunities for collaborative technology developments between two parties for the Group’s future business items such as autonomous driving technologies and Urban Air Mobility as well as other areas that the technological prowess of Boston Dynamics can contribute,” was the answer.

Let’s wait and see, then.

What is certain is Boston Dynamics’ robotic dog Spot has been a breakthrough product for the company which once owned by Google, before being sold to Japan’s SoftBank and now to Hyundai. 

Spot costs $US75,000 and is proving popular for the security industry and construction sites. The French army also recently tested Spot in military exercises. It’s only a matter of time before one of these dogs is fitted with a weapon, right? Not, if Hyundai has anything to do with it.

“Considerations toward rigorous pre-emptive measures to prevent the weaponisation of robots and human casualties are underway,” Hyundai told us. 

“As roles of robots in public services, such as safety, security, health, and disaster relief are expected to continuously grow, we will strive to contribute to fostering a harmonious future that humans and robots coexist.”

Here’s hoping Hyundai’s next robot is called the Excel.