AI has the capacity to destabilize civilizations in the form of escalating misinformation, manipulation of human users, and transformation of the labor market.
Startupfortune: Hyundai is moving to take 100% of Boston Dynamics by buying SoftBank’s remaining 9.65% stake for $325M
Should be great for Atlas as, Hyundai has the cleanest humanoid robotics trial path because the first customer is inside the company.
Atlas is built for industrial work such as parts sequencing, with Hyundai planning deployment at its Georgia Metaplant by 2028 and broader component assembly by 2030.
SoftBank’s exit looks less like quitting robotics and more like shifting capital toward bigger AI infrastructure bets.
---
startupfortune .com/hyundai-takes-full-control-of-boston-dynamics-as-softbank-exits-for-325-million/
🚨 BREAKING: Hyundai Motor Company is buying SoftBank's remaining 9.65% stake in Boston Dynamics for $325 million.
Reported by Reuters. A board meeting is expected on June 22nd to approve the purchase.
@BostonDynamics has had one of the most extraordinary journeys of any company in the industry:
→ Founded in 1992 as a spin-off from MIT
→ Acquired by Google in 2013
→ Sold to SoftBank in 2017
→ Majority stake acquired by Hyundai in 2021
→ Now becoming a 100% Hyundai company in 2026
Hyundai is not a passive financial investor. It is one of the world's largest manufacturers: cars, ships, industrial equipment.
Boston Dynamics inside a fully committed Hyundai gives Spot and Atlas access to real manufacturing environments, real supply chains and real deployment at scale.
This could be the moment Boston Dynamics stops being the world's most impressive robotics demo company and starts becoming a genuine industrial force.
The robots are coming. And they now have a very serious parent.
Reuters article available here: https://t.co/fUh7fosDFF
~~
♻️ Join the weekly robotics newsletter, and never miss any news → https://t.co/GoA3ZuwoPB
🇺🇸 Boston Dynamics robots are now patrolling World Cup venues in Dallas
They inspect perimeters, check suspicious packages, monitor restricted areas, and support security teams with 360 cameras, thermal & chemical sensors, and AI for anomaly detection
Hyderabad-based Zen Technologies unveiled Prahasta in 2024, an AI-powered robotic dog built for the global defence market.
It uses LiDAR and reinforcement learning technology to create real-time 3D maps for navigation and mission planning.
According to the company, Prahasta can also be equipped with different calibres of weapons.