What happened
Hyundai is accelerating its development of robotics and autonomous vehicles to compete directly with Tesla, according to the Financial Times. The automaker is positioning its engineering efforts against Tesla's established self-driving and humanoid robot programmes. This strategic push follows the January 2026 integration of DeepMind artificial intelligence models into Boston Dynamics' Atlas robot, signalling an increased focus on advanced automation capabilities.
Why it matters
For automotive and supply chain executives, the competition between major automakers is expanding from electric vehicles into autonomous systems and humanoid robotics. Because Hyundai is actively challenging Tesla's position, procurement teams face accelerated development cycles in industrial automation. The integration of DeepMind into Boston Dynamics indicates that traditional hardware manufacturers are relying on established AI partnerships to close the software gap. This drives further consolidation between automotive hardware and foundational AI models.
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