Hyundai Reportedly In Talks To Buy Softbank-Owned Boston Dynamics (bloomberg.com) 15
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: SoftBank Group Corp. is in talks to sell robot maker Boston Dynamics to Hyundai, people familiar with the matter said. Proposed terms of the deal would give the South Korean automaker control of the robotics company in a transaction valued at as much as $1 billion, said one of the people, all of whom asked not to be identified because the discussions are private. The terms have yet to be finalized, and the deal could fall apart, said the people.
A sale of Boston Dynamics would mark another twist in the trajectory of a company that spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1990s and operated independently until Google bought it in 2013. It was sold again in 2017, that time to SoftBank. At times, Boston Dynamics has functioned more like a research organization than a business, churning out machines that are technologically advanced and whimsical but unprofitable. That includes Spot, a maneuverable dog-like robot. Videos of its creations regularly rack up millions of views on YouTube; however, the company has said it is not currently generating profits. By contrast, Hyundai makes highly practical industrial robots intended for factory use.
A sale of Boston Dynamics would mark another twist in the trajectory of a company that spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1990s and operated independently until Google bought it in 2013. It was sold again in 2017, that time to SoftBank. At times, Boston Dynamics has functioned more like a research organization than a business, churning out machines that are technologically advanced and whimsical but unprofitable. That includes Spot, a maneuverable dog-like robot. Videos of its creations regularly rack up millions of views on YouTube; however, the company has said it is not currently generating profits. By contrast, Hyundai makes highly practical industrial robots intended for factory use.
This actually makes sense (Score:5, Interesting)
At times, Boston Dynamics has functioned more like a research organization than a business, churning out machines that are technologically advanced and whimsical but unprofitable. That includes Spot, a maneuverable dog-like robot. Videos of its creations regularly rack up millions of views on YouTube; however, the company has said it is not currently generating profits. By contrast, Hyundai makes highly practical industrial robots intended for factory use.
Seems like a good idea for Hyundai to purchase them and use Boston Dynamics as something of a skunkworks. While not everything coming out of BD has to be profitable (or even necessarily completely work) it is very likely that Hyundai's commercial robotics operations could derive some real benefit and innovation from that team.
Re:This actually makes sense (Score:4, Informative)
Any bets of not if, but when, the Chinese get a copy of all the R&D data from Hyundai?
Last I checked Hyundai was Korean, not Chinese. So the timeline is probably no different than when Boston Dynamics was owned by Softbank, which is Japanese. I would assume factory robots fall under the Hyundai Rotem subsidiary (it makes factory equipment, railway systems and, interestingly enough, tanks). Quick searches only show the Hyundai auto division as having manufacturing in China, not Rotem. So if the Chinese do get their hands on any of the data it would probably be from Chinese nationals working within BD here in the US or data breaches, both of which would be independent of any actual ownership nationality.
Re: (Score:2)
Seems like a good idea for Hyundai to purchase them and use Boston Dynamics as something of a skunkworks.
OK, OK, so it’s 2020 and we don’t exactly have flying cars yet, but... Betcha didn’t think you could own one of these sweet robotic walking cars now did ya? With these new robotic technologies, nothing is pedestrian!
Re: (Score:2)
Seems like a good idea for Hyundai to purchase them and use Boston Dynamics as something of a skunkworks.
OK, OK, so it’s 2020 and we don’t exactly have flying cars yet, but... Betcha didn’t think you could own one of these sweet robotic walking cars now did ya? With these new robotic technologies, nothing is pedestrian!
Would make for one hell of an offroad vehicle. Or maybe we can finally have working AT-STs!
not just a car company (Score:5, Informative)
Cars is a big part of what they do, but they're into a lot of things.
Re: (Score:2)
They were never just a car company, they were always an industrial conglomerate.
In the same way that GE was never just an appliance company, even if those are the products most people see.
And the history is similar; they were formed by merging existing industrial conglomerates. It's conglomerates all the way down.
Personally I wish they were independent (Score:2)
Maybe they should sell advertising space on Spot? (Score:2)
Pittsburgh, not Boston (Score:1)
The real roots of Boston Dynamics are in Pittsburgh, not Boston, as Marc Raibert started this work at CMU.
Yeah, um, no. (Score:2)
This is one of many sales of technology to foreign companies that should be blocked. Hyundai surely has enough money to come up with their own technology.