As Hyundai Motor Co Chairman Euisun Chung took the stage at CES 2022 accompanied by "Spot” – a robot dog – a voice from the audience asked how long it would be before the company dropped "Motor” from its name.
That time could be now.
Hyundai stole the show with its Atlas humanoid robot at January’s CES in Las Vegas. In a display of fluid, person-like agility, the machine picked itself up, navigated the stage with ease, and swivelled its torso and head with a precision that looked remarkably natural. Such was the excitement, Hyundai Motor’s shares surged 80% in the following two weeks.
While the world’s attention has been fixated on Elon Musk’s long-promised Optimus robot and the high-stakes AI race between the US and China, Hyundai Motor has emerged as a leader in humanoid robots.
For automakers like Tesla and Hyundai, humanoid robots use almost the same building blocks as electric cars – powered by batteries, driven by electric motors, guided by sensors and AI. That allows them to use their tech expertise and manufacturing capacity to get a headstart in a market Morgan Stanley estimates could be worth US$5 trillion (RM19.4 trillion) by 2050, when there could be more than 1 billion humanoids in use.
While the immediate goal is to use humanoids on assembly lines to reduce labour costs, there is also a massive potential market as robots move into warehousing, manufacturing and eventually even elder care and domestic assistance.
Hyundai, best known for its affordable yet reliable cars, has pumped billions of dollars into its robotics divisions after the 2021 acquisition of Boston Dynamics – the developer of "Spot” – and aggressively poached top-tier talent from the likes of Tesla and Nvidia Corp.
It may have little choice but to push into robotics amid the upheaval in the global auto industry. US and European carmakers are racking up tens of billions of dollars in losses as the EV transition stutters, while President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the rise of Chinese manufacturers are squeezing Hyundai in the world’s two biggest auto markets. Delays in the rollout of its autonomous driving and robotaxi platforms, despite years of significant investment, have also weighed on the company.
Technically, Atlas is a marvel: it features human-scale hands equipped with tactile sensing and fully rotational joints. It is capable of lifting up to 50kg (110 pounds) and can operate in extreme environments ranging from -20°C (-4°F) to 40°C. Hyundai plans to first deploy Atlas for high-volume, repetitive tasks, such as kitting vehicle components in 2028, before plugging them into more complex assembly work by 2030.
With a concrete deployment timeline and Hyundai’s big manufacturing infrastructure behind it, the company is poised to set a new benchmark for humanoid commercialisation, according to Macquarie Securities Korea Ltd analyst James Hong.
"They have the right ingredients and a management team that knows how to execute the recipe,” Hong said. "Of course there’s the matter of execution and speed, but the reality is that most global automakers don’t even have those basic ingredients to begin with.”
Analysts see Atlas as a formidable challenger to Tesla’s Optimus, citing superior technical specifications, including a higher payload capacity, readiness for mass production, and strategic partnerships with Nvidia and Google DeepMind. They said Atlas will help Hyundai slash labour costs – which account for around 10% of revenue – by operating 24/7 and enhancing worker safety and efficiency on production lines.
To be sure, Chinese manufacturers currently dominate the humanoid robot market, accounting for the vast majority of the roughly 13,000 shipped globally last year, according to research firm Omdia. Chinese humanoid robots are also cheaper than Western-made models, with Unitree Robotics offering its latest model for just US$4,900 (RM19,050) and AgiBot asking about US$14,000 (RM54,425) for a scaled-down version.
Cost Advantage
While Hyundai hasn’t publicly announced a pricing strategy, Boston Dynamics briefed analysts during CES that the robot could initially sell for US$130,000-US$140,000 (RM505,379-RM544,253) – a price point that allows for a return on investment within two years, Samsung Securities Co. analyst Esther Yim said. The price could drop as much as 50% once production surpasses 10,000 units, Yim added.
If the price falls to US$100,000 (RM388,786), Atlas’s operational cost would be roughly US$5.10 (RM19.82) an hour, according to Macquarie’s Hong. That’s lower than the US federal minimum wage of US$7.25 (RM28.18), and significantly below the US$20-US$38 (RM77.75-RM147.74) hourly wage common in auto plants, he said. The humanoid robot could replace 3 million to 4 million assembly workers globally upon its initial adoption in 2028.
It’s those kind of numbers that have animated investors. Within two weeks of Atlas’s launch, they had pushed Hyundai shares to a record high – at one stage overtaking General Motors Co as the world’s fourth-most valuable automaker.
While it has since come off its highs, the stock got another fillip earlier this month after the company released a video showing Atlas executing a cartwheel and backflip, highlighting its dexterity and lifelike movement.
Yoo Jiwoong, an analyst at Daol Investment & Securities Co, noted that Atlas stands out with its 50kg payload, compared to the 20kg capacity of Optimus and Figure AI, and even less for Chinese rivals. That makes it the only humanoid robot deployable at all manufacturing sites, including heavy automotive factories.
Still, Tesla has a price advantage as an end-to-end platform that requires no outside help, whereas Hyundai relies on Nvidia chips and third-party AI developers. The so-called Nvidia tax and costs paid to other vendors would eat into Hyundai’s margins, according to DS Investment & Securities Co analysts including TaeYong Choi.
"But even if Tesla makes 1 million humanoids annually by 2030, it won’t be enough to satisfy global demand,” Choi said. "The market needs a massive No. 2 company to fill the void and benefit from the trickle-down effects, and Hyundai is at the forefront of this competition.”
The latest video of Atlas quickly recovering from a failed jump or imperfect landing demonstrates that the robot has reached a level where it can be dispatched to industrial sites without separate on-site training, and has the ability to respond independently to unexpected situations in real-world environments, KB Securities analysts including Kang Seongjin said.
"Hyundai stands as the most prominent alternative capable of sharing the future value of autonomous driving and robotics, long monopolised by Tesla,” Kang said. "With a clear vision for robotics but a market cap that’s only one-twentieth of Tesla’s, it’s a compelling option for investing in physical AI.” – Bloomberg
