In 2017, Google sold Boston Dynamics to the Japanese holding company Softbank for an astonishingly low sum of just $165 million. After several of its other investments (Uber, WeWork, OneWeb) failed, Softbank found itself in serious financial trouble by December 2020 and began selling off its prized possessions, such as Arm. Hyundai desired to spend more money on “mobility solutions,” and Softbank was successful in selling Boston Dynamics to Hyundai for a healthy profit.
For Boston Dynamics, the acquisition is pretty exciting. The company has been producing robots work that is at the forefront of the industry for years, but it has only ever been research. One year ago, Boston Dynamics only began to sell its first item: the $74,500 robotic dog named “Spot.” Cost reduction is crucial if Boston Dynamics is to sell enough robots to turn a profit. A car manufacturer looks like a pretty good fit for a business that may make the transition because not many businesses concentrate in the mass production of robotics parts and components.
Due to its ownership of both Kia Motors and Hyundai Motor Company—the “Hyundai” automobile brand you’ve been picturing—Hyundai Motor Group is one of the top five automakers. Along with the Hyundai racing team, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, and Hyundai Rotem, a manufacturer of railways, manufacturing equipment, and military tanks (! ), Hyundai Motor Group also owns these entities. Welcome to the world of South Korean conglomerates if this is starting to seem difficult. After Samsung Group, Hyundai Motor Group is the second-largest. Contrast the Hyundai Motor Group with none of these other businesses whose names begin with “Hyundai.”
The good news for Boston Dynamics is that Hyundai has a ton of experience setting up manufacturing processes, creating parts for mass production, and achieving cost savings through economies of scale. A robotics company that was historically primarily focused on research probably lacks significant competence in all of these areas.
In This Article...
Boston Dynamics muses on the future as it is once again ingested by a massive corporation.
Formerly owned by the parent company of Google, Alphabet, and subsequently by the Japanese corporation SoftBank, Boston Dynamics is currently a part of the Hyundai Motor Company of South Korea.
Boston Dynamics issued a press release this morning shortly after 3 a.m. ET to indicate that Hyundai Motor Group has purchased a majority stake in the business, valuing Boston Dynamics at US $1.1 billion:
According to the agreement, after the transaction is completed, Hyundai Motor Group will own approximately 80% of Boston Dynamics, while SoftBank, through one of its affiliates, would possess approximately 20% of the company.
Although the statement is lengthy, there are several fascinating passages that we’ll go over and discuss what it might mean for Hyundai and Boston Dynamics.
Boston Dynamics has been particularly quiet lately (I wonder why! ), despite our requests for a statement from them. Just remember that at this point, the only items we can say with certainty are those contained in the release. We’ll update this piece if (when?) we hear back from Hyundai or Boston Dynamics.
First and foremost, it should be made clear that the acquisition is divided among the affiliates of the Hyundai Motor Group, including Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Mobis, and Hyundai Glovis. Hyundai Motor produces automobiles, Hyundai Mobis produces automobile components and appears to be working on some autonomous projects, and Hyundai Glovis performs logistics. There are other more organizations that go by the name Hyundai, but they are all separate, at least on paper. For instance, Hyundai Robotics is a division of Hyundai Heavy Industries, which is unrelated to Hyundai Motor Group. However, in this piece, when we refer to “Hyundai,” we mean Hyundai Motor Group.
Hyundai completes the acquisition of a majority stake in Boston Dynamics.
This morning, Hyundai said that the purchase of Boston Dynamics was complete. The revolutionary robotics business is valued at $1.1 billion thanks to the deal, which was disclosed in late 2020. Future financial information has not been made public by the companies.
Boston Dynamics, which was formerly owned by SoftBank, is now under the ownership of the South Korean automotive behemoth. Boston Dynamics was acquired by the Japanese investment firm from Google, which had held the company for less than three years, and served as the company’s de facto interim owner.
Boston Dynamics saw the commercialization of its first two products since launching around 30 years ago, even though its time with Softbank wasn’t much longer than its period under Google/Alphabet X. This year, the business announced the (still impending) release of Stretch, an improved version of its warehouse robot, Handle. Last year, the company brought its quadruped robot Spot to market.
Boston Dynamics has insisted on keeping its own research division despite changing ownership over the years, which has resulted in less commercial technology like the Atlas humanoid robot. It is unclear how this will operate under the leadership of Hyundai, but the business does appear to have a stake in continuing a forward-thinking strategy.
When the partnership was announced, Boston Dynamics CEO Rob Playter said, “We and Hyundai share a view of the transformational power of mobility and look forward to working together to accelerate our plans to enable the world with cutting-edge automation, and to continue to solve the world’s hardest robotics challenges for our customers.”
From Progress for Humanity’s perspective
Robotics is a technical-demanding industry that has made considerable strides in the previous decade, but it still requires a lot of financing. However, robots have already been working in the background to support people by performing dangerous and tiresome duties in factories and other places. We may now explore regions that were previously out of our reach, such as outer space and the ocean. And now, by giving us all assistance with a variety of jobs, robotics has the potential to significantly improve the quality of our lives at work, at home, and while we’re having fun.
We will be able to combine and enhance our idea for future mobility, which includes autonomous vehicles, logistics, and urban air transportation, thanks to the merger with Boston Dynamics. To mark the anniversary, we wish to introduce the world to a completely new robotic era in order to demonstrate our vision for aProgress for Humanity. a time when robots are entertaining, useful, and visible companions for people that will elevate the level of our existing mobility services.
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21st of June 2021, BOSTON, SEOUL, South Korea, and TOKYO /PRNewswire — Following the receipt of regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions, the Hyundai Motor Group (the Group), Boston Dynamics, Inc., and SoftBank Group Corp. (SoftBank) today announced the completion of the Group’s acquisition of a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics from SoftBank. The transaction gave the mobile robot company a $1.1 billion market value. No additional financial information was provided.
Following the closure, the Group will own 80% of Boston Dynamics, while SoftBank will keep the remaining 20% of the company through one of its affiliates.
Many of the top industrial companies in the world have successfully incorporated the nimble, mobile robots developed by Boston Dynamics into their commercial processes. Modern robotics has chances for quick development and the ability to improve society by making work safer and more efficient.
With the acquisition of Boston Dynamics, the Group takes yet another significant step toward its strategic transformation into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider and secures a dominant foothold in the robotics industry. The Group has made significant investments in the development of future technologies, including as autonomous driving, artificial intelligence (AI), urban air mobility (UAM), smart manufacturing, and robotics, in order to accelerate this change.
The Group’s goal in the robotics sector is to create cutting-edge technologies that improve people’s lives, foster safety, and realize development for humanity.
Boston Dynamics and the Group should be able to take advantage of each other’s strengths in manufacturing, logistics, construction, and automation thanks to the agreement. The Group and Boston Dynamics will work together to develop a robotics value chain, from the production of robot components to intelligent logistics solutions. The Group will also assist Boston Dynamics with its ongoing global sales and service expansion and product portfolio development.
In June 2020, Boston Dynamics began selling Spot(r), its first commercial robot. Today, the company has hundreds of robots working in a range of sectors, including mining, manufacturing, oil and gas, power utilities, and construction. StretchTM, the business’s first commercial robot created especially for distribution centers and warehouses, was also recently unveiled by the company.
The Group also unveiled a new film today to demonstrate how it will use Boston Dynamics’ expertise to promote mobility for humanity. You may see the video on Hyundai’s YouTube channel.
In a $1.1 billion deal, Hyundai purchases Boston Dynamics from SoftBank.
In a deal valued at $1.1 billion, the world’s largest automaker, Hyundai Motor Group, has agreed to acquire control of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank Group.
Hyundai will own 80% of the company, according to a statement from Boston Dynamics, and SoftBank will own the other 20%. Chairman Euisun Chung, one of the wealthiest individuals in Korea with a net worth of $3.5 billion, is in charge of Hyundai.
The agreement would “lend synergies” to autonomous vehicles, according to the release, and will take advantage of Boston Dynamics and Hyundai’s respective capabilities in manufacturing, logistics, and automation. Aiming to become a “Smart Mobility Solution Provider,” a wide goal that includes autonomous cars, Hyundai, the second-largest business in Korea after Samsung, has ambitious plans to invest more than $50 billion over the next five years.
According to Boston Dynamics, Hyundai has already made significant investments in the creation of cutting-edge technology, such as autonomous driving, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence, robotics, and environmentally friendly automobiles. Hyundai and the major European chemical company Ineos only last month agreed to study the possibility of collaborating on the development of hydrogen technology for the automaker’s hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.
According to Yu Yuansheng, a senior analyst at Lux Research based in Singapore, “the acquisition of Boston Dynamics would bring in-house some of the market-leading capabilities, technologies, and know-how, and provide a big boost for Hyundai’s goals.” Yu cites Hyundai’s Vest EXoskeleton, a wearable robot it launched last year to help manufacturing employees. In order to assist persons with disabilities in walking, Hyundai is currently developing medical robots.
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As it moves deeper into the robotics industry, Hyundai has finalized its acquisition of Boston Dynamics. The completed transaction values the company, famed for its commercially accessible robo-dog Spot, at $1.1 billion and gives the Korean automaker an 80 percent ownership part in it. Hyundai has now acquired Boston Dynamics, an MIT spinoff that was formerly owned by Google in 2013 and Softbank in 2017, the latter of which still holds a 20 percent stake through an affiliate.
Hyundai’s long-term strategy for the business is to establish a “robotics value chain” that includes robotics component production, building, and automation. While the corporation has been investigating robotically powered walking machines a la Star Wars, it appears that it is equally interested in Boston’s warehouse workers, particularly box stackers Handle and Stretch.
Boston has recently been under fire for allowing Spot to be used by the military and local enforcement. However, the new Hyundai promotional video made no mention of those use cases. Instead, the video shows the robotic dog working as a hospital assistant and a guide dog for the blind.
Hyundai bought Boston Dynamics, right?
BOSTON DYNAMICS IS FINALLY ACQUIRED BY HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP FROM SOFTBANK. BOSTON/SEOUL/TOKYO, JUNE 21, 2021 – SoftBank Group Corp., Boston Dynamics, Inc., and Hyundai Motor Group (the Group)