SoftBank has reportedly sold Boston Dynamics to Hyundai

Boston Dynamics is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology spinoff first acquired by Google in 2013. In 2017, Google’s parent company Alphabet sold it to Softbank, which had a “vision of catalyzing the next wave of smart robotics.” Hyundai Motor has been investing heavily in robotics over the past couple of years and vowed to invest up to 1.5 trillion won (US$1.4 billion) in the industry by 2025. It has mostly focused on manufacturing wheeled robots for factory use, though, instead designing machines as interesting as Spot and Atlas. KED says Hyundai Motor will shoulder about 400 billion won, while its affiliates, including auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co. will pay the rest of the acquisition price.