Hyundai's Four-Wheeled Platform Robot Will Go On Sale Next Year

Hyundai Motor Group will start selling a four-wheeled robot powered by artificial intelligence next year as the South Korean carmaker ramps up its push into advanced mobility. 

The Mobile Eccentric Droid is the company’s first mass-produced mobility robot platform and is set to go into production in the first half. The streamlined robot is essentially a platform with four wheels, but its autonomous navigation and integrated sensors mean it can be used for everything from deliveries to film-making, said Hyun Dong Jin, head of Hyundai’s Robotics Lab.

While the company hasn’t given details on the robot’s price or planned production volumes, Hyun said he hoped sales will reach 10,000 units in three years. 

The platform “is very similar to vehicles in terms of software,” Hyun said in an interview at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. That means the innovations and lessons from the droid have the potential to flow to its car business, and vice versa, he said.

Hyundai is part of the growing wave of automakers deepening their push into robotics, which offers not just a new revenue stream but is transforming how vehicles are made and the in-car experience for drivers. The company launched the Robotics Lab in 2019, then acquired Boston Dynamics two years later, and has plans to invest invest 125 trillion won ($85 billion) in South Korea over the next five years in AI, robotics and other new technologies.

AI is set to hold greater influence over production and manufacturing in a range of sectors in coming years, according to Hyun, who pointed to the benefits of using technology for dangerous jobs.

“That kind of task should be replaced by some robotic solution I think,” he said. “We can make people’s lives safer and comfortable.”