Hyundai Motor chief, units to buy Boston Dynamics from SoftBank

SEOUL: Hyundai Motor Group units and its chairman have agreed to buy an 80% stake in robot maker Boston Dynamics from SoftBank Group Corp for around 800 billion to 900 billion won ($736 million-$828 million), a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Hyundai can leverage the robot technology to expand automation at its unionised car factories, as well as design autonomous vehicles like self-driving cars, drones and delivery robots to offer mobility services, analysts said.

The move comes after newly-promoted chairman Euisun Chung pledged to reduce reliance on traditional car manufacturing, saying robotics will account for 20% of the company's future business, with car-making taking up 50%, followed by urban air mobility at 30% by 2030.

Chung will own a 20% stake in Boston Dynamics, while Hyundai Motor and its affiliates, Hyundai Mobis and Hyundai Glovis, will hold a combined 60% stake, two people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is confidential. One of the sources confirmed the value of the deal.

"The acquisition would help Hyundai offer a seamless approach to goods delivery with the help of delivery robots and driverless vehicles such as cars and planes," Koh Tae-bong, an analyst at Hi Investment & Securities.

"But Hyundai needs to prove that Boston Dynamics can be commercially successful and is capable of competing with cheaper Chinese rivals like Unitree Robotics," he said.

The company's products include Spot, a four-legged dog-like robot that can climb stairs, and have gained media attention even as it has struggled to build a commercial business.

Boston Dynamics, which was spun out from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992, was bought by Google in 2013 and sold to SoftBank in 2017.

Clients include Ford Motor Co, which leased two Spot robots in July as part of a pilot programme.

The Hyundai Motor Group is expected to announce the decision later on Friday, after getting approval from boards at each of the three units, two other people have said.

Both Hyundai Motor and SoftBank declined to comment.

The deal is the latest pullback by SoftBank from operating businesses as CEO Masayoshi Son focuses on investing.

It also marks the fading of SoftBank's robotics ambitions, which were talked up by Son, and leaves the group's own rump robotics business, which includes humanoid robot Pepper, looking increasingly isolated.

Hyundai Motor in January announced it had partnered with Uber to develop electric air taxis, but the US firm earlier this week said it would sell its loss-making flying taxi unit to Joby Aviation, an electric passenger aircraft developer.