Hyundai plans humanoid robots at new factories after 2032
The automaker will prove autonomous manufacturing in Singapore by 2030, then bring humanoids to future plants for wiring and trim work.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy humanoid robots at new manufacturing plants after 2032, the automaker outlined ahead of E-FOREST Tech Day 2026, a three-day event starting October 19 at its Uiwang research institute showcasing around 200 manufacturing technologies spanning automation, AI and software-defined factories.
The roadmap puts autonomous manufacturing systems at the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center Singapore (HMGICS) by 2030, then introduces humanoid robots and full-scale automation at future factories after 2032, according to Choi Young-tae, head of Hyundai Motor and Kia's E-FOREST Center, who briefed media on Friday.
The target applications are jobs conventional robots handle poorly: connecting wiring inside vehicles, supplying interior trim components and performing paint touch-ups. The shift rests on physical AI that can recognize its surroundings and make decisions, moving beyond repetitive welding-and-painting tasks.
HMGICS will serve as the testing ground before the technology expands to Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in Georgia and the company's electric vehicle plant in Ulsan. Hyundai is also building digital twin technology to simulate factory operations and catch problems before they occur, and showed logistics robots whose production costs fell about 30 percent while charging times dropped from roughly two hours to as little as 12 minutes.
"We will keep working to expand the use of these new technologies in our production plants and put them into practice on the factory floor," said Cho Hyun-chul, vice president and head of the group's E-FOREST Strategy Group. The company says the automation push is meant to move workers off dangerous, repetitive tasks and toward production management, quality improvement and higher-value work.
The announcement extends a robotics strategy already in motion: Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics has Atlas units performing real production-line tasks at the Robotics Manufacturing and Assembly Complex and HMGMA, and the group has discussed deploying up to 25,000 Atlas robots across its operations.