Hyundai Takes Full Control of Boston Dynamics As SoftBank Exits For $325 Million (startupfortune.com) 21
Hyundai Motor Group is acquiring SoftBank's remaining 9.65% stake in Boston Dynamics for $325 million, "closing out SoftBank's last piece of Boston Dynamics and turning the Waltham, Massachusetts robotics company into a wholly owned Hyundai business," reports Startup Fortune. From the report: The price is $325 million for the remaining stake, according to the deal terms, and it follows the put option SoftBank retained when Hyundai bought control of Boston Dynamics in 2021. You should read that as a signal, not a footnote. Hyundai paid about $880 million for an 80% stake in Boston Dynamics in the 2021 transaction, valuing the company at roughly $1.1 billion at the time. SoftBank had bought Boston Dynamics from Alphabet in 2017, after Google had acquired the robotics lab in 2013. It was a strange ownership path for a company whose robots became famous on YouTube long before they became obvious commercial products.
That part is changing. At CES in Las Vegas on January 5, 2026, Hyundai and Boston Dynamics showed the electric Atlas humanoid robot in public, with the Associated Press reporting that the life-sized robot stood up, walked around the stage and was remotely piloted for the demonstration. The useful detail was not the stagecraft. It was the deployment plan. A production version of Atlas is expected to begin work at Hyundai's electric vehicle plant near Savannah, Georgia, by 2028. [...] If Hyundai can turn that into repeatable manufacturing value, the SoftBank exit will look less like a tidy cleanup and more like the moment Hyundai stopped borrowing a robotics future and decided to own it outright.
That part is changing. At CES in Las Vegas on January 5, 2026, Hyundai and Boston Dynamics showed the electric Atlas humanoid robot in public, with the Associated Press reporting that the life-sized robot stood up, walked around the stage and was remotely piloted for the demonstration. The useful detail was not the stagecraft. It was the deployment plan. A production version of Atlas is expected to begin work at Hyundai's electric vehicle plant near Savannah, Georgia, by 2028. [...] If Hyundai can turn that into repeatable manufacturing value, the SoftBank exit will look less like a tidy cleanup and more like the moment Hyundai stopped borrowing a robotics future and decided to own it outright.
Re: (Score:3)
To clarify, you're claiming that "Janet Harrison", the listed author of the article linked from Startup Fortune magazine, is actually an AI? Or that the human Janet wrote the article with excessive AI assistance?
I'm not necessarily arguing, just asking for your evidence. I wouldn't have recognized the article as such.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
No idea whether the author actually exists (nor do I see how it matters), but the text is either wholly or mostly AI generated, with all the usual stylistic hallmarks thereof.
If you do not possess your own ability to discern human vs. AI generated writing, you are welcome to submit it to any of the many "ai detectors" online.
Re: (Score:2)
No idea whether the author actually exists (nor do I see how it matters), but the text is either wholly or mostly AI generated, with all the usual stylistic hallmarks thereof.
False. I don't see any evidence of that.
If you do not possess your own ability to discern human vs. AI generated writing, you are welcome to submit it to any of the many "ai detectors" online.
False. ZeroGPT says this is Human generated text. You need a life.
Re:AI text (Score:5, Interesting)
> ... you are welcome to submit it to any of the many "ai detectors" online.
Quillbot: AI-generated: 0%; Mixed: 0%; Human: 100%
Grammerly: AI text: 15%; Non-AI text: 85%
GPTZero: AI-generated: 86%; Mixed: 14%; Human: 0%
Determining the degree of AI participation doesn't appear to be quite that simple...
Re: (Score:2)
Why do you believe those "AI detectors" are accurate? The past evaluations I've seen came to a different conclusion.
Re: (Score:2)
I do not, nor do I use one. This was merely a suggestion to someone who is unable to detect an AI generated text on their own.
Re: (Score:1)
Why do you believe those "AI detectors" are accurate? The past evaluations I've seen came to a different conclusion.
OP said the following:
If you do not possess your own ability to discern human vs. AI generated writing, you are welcome to submit it to any of the many "ai detectors" online.
I simply followed his advice, which proved he was full of shit.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
AI fanboys downvoting :)
In future news (Score:2)
Hyundai Takes Full Control of Boston Dynamics
Hyundai announces licensing deal with Hasbro and Takara Tomy ... :-)
Countdown begins (Score:2)
The countdown begins. I wonder when Hyundai will move Boston Dynamics to a state like Texas or off-shore. But maybe since it is involved with US defense maybe off-shoring will not happen.
Or it will not happen until the Defense portion of the business is spun off to a whole owned subsidiary based in DC.
Re: (Score:1)
electric Atlas humanoid robot Price ?? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Sad (Score:2)
So sad. Pioneering US robotics company going hand to hand around the world, but no US buyers.