Hyundai Motor Group has completed its acquisition of a controlling interest in leading robotics company Boston Dynamics in a deal that values the firm at $1.1 billion.
Through the deal, Hyundai now owns an 80 per cent stake in Boston Dynamics while SoftBank owns the remaining 20 per cent through one of its affiliates. Between 2013 and 2017, the company was owned by Google before it was sold to SoftBank for an undisclosed sum.
The acquisition of Boston Dynamics marks an important step in Hyundai’s transformation into a Smart Mobility Solution Provider that in addition to robotics, has seen the South Korean company make significant investments into autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, Urban Air Mobility, and smart factories.
Read Also: Hyundai Purchases Robotics Expert Boston Dynamics For $921 Million
Hyundai says that, with its new acquisition, it will create a robotics value chain from robot component manufacturing through to smart logistics solutions. It will also support the tech company’s expansion of its product line and global sales and service footprint.
Boston Dynamics was spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992 and has done a lot of research and robotics work for the U.S. military and DARPA over the years. In mid-2020, it started selling Spot, its four-legged robot dog, to private consumers for $75,000.
In October 2020, Hyundai announced the formation of New Horizons Studios, a new unit focused specifically on the development of ‘Ultimate Mobility Vehicles’ that the automaker envisions as using legs rather than wheels.
