Hyundai reaffirms Atlas plans

Hyundai Motor Group’s chairman said the company still plans to put Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robots in U.S. factories by 2028. (chosun.com) Chung Eui-sun repeated the timeline in a written interview released April 13 ahead of the World Economy Summit with Semaphore in the United States. Hyundai first gave the 2028 target at Consumer Electronics Show 2026 in Las Vegas on January 5. (chosun.com, hyundai.com) The factory site is Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America near Savannah, Georgia, where Hyundai said Atlas is slated to handle sequencing tasks. Boston Dynamics said in January that 2026 Atlas fleets were already committed to Hyundai’s Robotics Metaplant Application Center and to Google DeepMind. (hyundai.com, bostondynamics.com) Sequencing is factory prep work: a robot sorts and stages the right parts in the right order before they reach a worker or an assembly station. Hyundai said Atlas is aimed at higher-risk jobs and at reducing physical strain in smart-factory operations. (hyundai.com, cnbc.com) Atlas is Boston Dynamics’ humanoid robot, redesigned as a fully electric machine after the company retired its older hydraulic version in 2024. At Consumer Electronics Show 2026, Boston Dynamics said it had started manufacturing the product version and planned more customers in early 2027. (bostondynamics.com) Hyundai is tying that robot plan to a broader manufacturing push in the United States. The group said in March it would invest $21 billion in the United States from 2025 to 2028, including auto production, parts, steel, and future industries such as artificial intelligence and robotics. (hyundainews.com) The robotics push also reaches beyond one model or one plant. Hyundai and Boston Dynamics said in April 2025 that Hyundai Motor Group planned to purchase tens of thousands of robots and expand collaboration on manufacturing and logistics in the United States. (bostondynamics.com) Other manufacturers are also testing humanoids on factory floors, but most programs are still pilots with limited task lists and no large-scale deployment dates. Hyundai’s repeated 2028 date gives one of the clearest production schedules yet from a carmaker and a robot company working inside the same corporate group. (nbcnews.com, hyundai.com) Hyundai’s latest message did not add a new launch date or a plant count. It did something narrower: it kept the 2028 deadline in place and tied Atlas to medium-term factory planning in Georgia rather than a trade-show demo. (chosun.com, hyundai.com)