현대자동차, 스팟으로 유명한 보스턴 다이나믹스 인수 VIDEO: Hyundai Motor acquires Boston Dynamics from SoftBank for almost $1 bnENG

Hyundai Motor acquires Boston Dynamics from SoftBank for almost $1 bnENG   

Hyundai Motor Co. is acquire the US robotics firm Boston Dynamics Inc. from SoftBank Group for slightly less than 1 trillion won ($921 million) and will finalize the acquisition at its Dec. 10 board meeting, according to sources with knowledge of the matter on Dec. 8.

The acquisition will become the first buyout deal for Chung Euisun as Hyundai Motor Group’s chairman since he assumed the chairmanship last October, accelerating the group’s push into the future mobility market. Hyundai has chosen robotics as one of its new growth engines, alongside electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell cars.

The korea economic daily

현대자동차, 스팟으로 유명한 보스턴 다이나믹스 인수     현대자동차는 소프트뱅크 그룹으로부터 미국 로봇회사 보스턴 다이나믹스를 1조원 조금 못 미치는 가격에 인수했으며 12월 10일 이사회에서 인수를 마무리할 예정이라고 8일 소식통이 밝혔다. 이번 인수는 지난해 10월 현대차그룹 회장직을 맡은 이후 현대차그룹의 첫 인수합병이 돼 그룹의 미래 모빌리티 시장 진출에 가속도가 붙게 됐다. 현대차는 전기차와 수소연료전지차와 함께 로봇공학을 새로운 성장동력 중 하나로 선택했다. 소식통은 현대자동차가 인수 가격의 절반 정도인 4000억원 이상을 자동차 부품업체인 현대모비스를 포함한 계열사가 나머지를 부담할 것이라고 한국경제신문 마케트인사이트에 말했다. 보스턴 다이내믹스는 기술적으로는 진보했지만 수익성이 없는 개 로봇인 스팟(Spot)과 같은 기계로 유명한 반면 현대차는 공장용 바퀴 달린 로봇에 주력해왔다. 2015년 공개된 스팟은 4개의 다리가 달린 로봇으로 트로트, 계단 오르기, 문 열기 등이 가능하다. 보스턴 다이내믹스는 또한 물류 서비스를 위해 고안된 휴머노이드 로봇 아틀라스와 새처럼 생긴 이동형 로봇 핸들을 선보였다. 미국 로봇 제조사는 1992년 매사추세츠공과대학에서 분리돼 2014년 구글 소유자 알파벳이 인수한 뒤 2017년 소프트뱅크에 매각됐다. 황기철 콘페이퍼 에디터 Ki Chul Hwang Conpaper editor curator

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Hyundai Motor will finance about half of the acquisition price, or more than 400 billion won, with its affiliates including auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co. paying for the remainder, the sources told the Market Insight, The Korea Economic Daily's capital market news outlet.

silicon.es

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Boston Dynamics is famous for technologically advanced but unprofitable machines such as Spot, a maneuverable dog-like robot, while Hyundai Motor has focused on wheeled robots intended for factory use.

Spot, unveiled in 2015, is a four-legged robot that can trot, climb stairs and open doors.

Boston Dynamics has also introduced the humanoid robot Atlas and the bird-like mobile robot Handle designed for logistics services.

The US robot maker was originally spun off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992, acquired by Google owner Alphabet in 2014 and then sold to SoftBank in 2017.

Last month, sources had said that Hyundai Motor has hired Goldman Sachs as its adviser and top Korean law firm Kim & Chang as the legal counsel in its attempt to acquire Boston Dynamics.

Yahoo Movies

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Hyundai Motor has shown growing interest in automated vehicle technology and robotics over the past years, and said it will invest up to 1.5 trillion won ($1.4 billion) in robotics by 2025.

Since Chairman Chung set up Hyundai Robotics within the group in 2018 as its then executive vice chairman, the automotive group invested in the autonomous vehicle startup 42dot and Realtime Robotics, a Boston-based startup, last year.

Chung said in a town hall meeting with group employees in October that robotics will account for 20% of its future business, with automobiles taking up half of its sales, followed by urban air mobility (UAM) at 30%.

In a new year’s speech early this year, Chung said the group will invest 100 trillion won in the future mobility, including personal air vehicles, robotics and last-mile delivery robots, as well as existing engine vehicles, signaling its intent to pursue additional acquisitions of mobility-related companies.

(Updated on Dec. 9 to add in the first paragraph that Hyundai Motor will finalize the purchase at a Dec. 10 board meeting.)

Write to Chae-Yeon Kim and Sang-eun Lucia Lee at why29@hankyung.com

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