Hyundai Motor Group pivots to physical AI, targeting robotics and autonomous factories

At the San Francisco AI Summit, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun outlined a shift from traditional auto making to a "physical AI solutions" model that will integrate autonomous driving, humanoid robots and AI-defined factories. Under his leadership, Hyundai and Kia climbed to third place in global vehicle sales, moving 7.27 million units in 2025 and achieving over 300 trillion won in annual revenue. The group’s electric-vehicle platform E-GMP underpins models like the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6 and EV6, while hybrid production has been expanded to meet market demand.

Chung’s roadmap includes deploying Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot at the Georgia Metaplant by 2028 and investing 125.2 trillion won in South Korea for AI, software-defined vehicles, robotics and hydrogen projects, plus a 9 trillion won AI hub in Saemangeum and a 42 trillion won development program in the Yeongnam region. Partnerships with Nvidia, Waymo and Google DeepMind are intended to accelerate the ecosystem for physical AI.