Humanoid robots enter car factories: what we know about Atlas, Optimus and the strike in Ulsan

Labour unrest at Hyundai's Ulsan complex shows humanoid robots have moved from conference demos to the factory floor. According to Ars Technica, thousands of unionized workers walked off the job after negotiations broke down over plans to deploy humanoid robots. The Wall Street Journal, cited by Ars Technica, called it "the car industry's first factory stoppage addressing humanoid robots." The plant is Hyundai's automotive production complex in Ulsan, described by Ars Technica as the world's largest automotive plant.

The Korea Times, also cited by Ars Technica, reported that workers ended day and night shifts two hours early from July 13 through July 15, and planned four-hour strikes from July 20 to 22 after 15 rounds of negotiations failed.

The Hyundai Motor union represents more than 39,000 South Korean workers. Its demands, per The Wall Street Journal, include shifting production workers' hourly pay to a fixed salary to protect against automation-driven cuts in work hours, raising the retirement age from 60 to 65, and bigger bonuses.

What Hyundai actually plans to deploy

The robot at the centre of this is Atlas, made by Boston Dynamics. Ars Technica describes it as a two-legged robot standing more than 6 feet tall that can lift more than 100 pounds. Hyundai Motor Group unveiled the latest version at the start of this year, and Boston Dynamics is about to become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hyundai. According to The Korea Herald, Hyundai aims to deploy more than 25,000 Atlas robots across various Hyundai and Kia manufacturing plants. It plans to start with US factories in 2028 but has not disclosed a timeline for deploying elsewhere.

Cost estimates come from analysts.

Esther Yim of Samsung Securities Co. told Bloomberg that each Atlas costs an estimated $130,000 but may pay for itself within about two years of operations. James Hong at Macquarie Securities Korea Ltd. suggested to Bloomberg that if the robot cost eventually fell to $100,000, its operational cost could drop below the US federal minimum wage of $7.25 and significantly undercut a typical auto worker's salary. That is an analyst projection, not a Hyundai figure, and it depends on a price the robot has not reached.

Hyundai's first Atlas deployment is planned for Metaplant America, an electric vehicle factory outside Savannah, Georgia, starting in 2028. Ars Technica notes Hyundai may face less organized pushback there because US workers at the Georgia factory are not unionized, though the United Auto Workers, which represents about 400,000 autoworkers across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, has been attempting to organize the facility.

The Georgia plant is already heavily automated

Metaplant America is described by Ars Technica as the most heavily automated automotive factory in the United States. IEEE Spectrum is cited for the figure of more than 850 robots unloading auto parts, stamping steel components, assembling car frames and installing car doors. The facility also uses 300 automated guided vehicles to carry parts to work stations while avoiding human workers.

Boston Dynamics' four-legged robot Spot is already onsite, performing "exterior quality inspection" at the plant's weld shop. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter visiting in July 2026 described the Spot robots probing their sensor-embedded noses to sniff out defects.

Atlas would start with sorting and organizing automotive parts when it deploys in 2028. Jerald Roach, a general assembly executive at Metaplant, told the AJC that humanoid robots won't pose a threat to the human workforce, describing human hands with their sense of feel and touch as necessary for handling soft car parts such as hoses, wires, carpets and trim panels. Hyundai has committed to employing 8,100 full-time human workers at Metaplant America by 2031 under its economic development deal with Georgia. State and local leaders provided an incentive package worth an estimated $2.1 billion. The AJC found the facility already employed more than 3,800 workers by the end of 2025.

The AI layer: Gemini on Atlas

Hardware is only part of the story. In January 2026, Google DeepMind and Boston Dynamics announced at CES in Las Vegas that Google's Gemini Robotics model would be deployed on Boston Dynamics robots including Atlas and Spot, WIRED reported. The companies plan to test Gemini-powered Atlas robots at Hyundai auto factories in the coming months.

WIRED quoted Robert Playter, CEO of Boston Dynamics, saying the real value going forward is for robots to be contextually aware of their environment and able to use their hands to manipulate any object, and that manufacturing environments like Hyundai factories are a perfect place to deploy that today. Playter also said being able to guarantee human safety will be essential, adding that even the little ones can be dangerous.

Carolina Parada, senior director of robotics at Google DeepMind, told WIRED that Gemini was designed to be multimodal, making it well suited to understanding the physical world. She said automotive is a great place to start but that the intention is to continue expanding to more applications. WIRED notes roughly 200 Chinese firms are developing humanoid systems, according to CMRA, a Chinese industry association.

Other carmakers, and what the robots can do today

Hyundai is not alone. Ars Technica reports Tesla is developing its own Optimus robot for use in its electric vehicle factories, and BMW has run pilot tests with humanoid robots made by Figure AI at its plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Multiple Chinese automakers including BYD are also trying out humanoid robots and sometimes developing their own.

The automation trend itself is decades old. More than 1 million robots were already in automotive factories worldwide by 2021, accounting for one-third of robots across all industries, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The United States had deployed 38,000 industrial robots as of 2025, with the automotive industry alone having installed 13,500 units.

Humanoids differ from those machines in ambition. Robotics companies pitch them as eventually handling a wide variety of tasks while fitting into workplaces designed for humans. Ars Technica notes that will require overcoming multiple challenges in AI training and hardware development before they become general-purpose robots working autonomously.

The World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, held from August 22 to 26, 2026, offered a useful reality check. Ars Technica reported that viral videos showed sprinting robots beating Usain Bolt's human 100-meter record, but also robots crashing into barriers and falling because they could not readily stop running. A few broke at the waist in a shower of sparks or caught fire.

Dipam Patel, a PhD student in computer science at Purdue University, told Ars Technica the progress in whole-body control was real but that the robots were engineered for one task each. In the games' outdoor firefighting and rescue event, only three out of 12 competing robot teams completed the entire challenge, according to the Global Times. Many competitors were still teleoperated by humans.

Where the training data comes from

China is attacking the data problem with state money. Rest of World reported that local governments have funded 40 training centres to address a data shortage in robotics research, with about two dozen already in operation as of December. At these facilities, human trainers wearing VR headsets and arm exoskeletons mimic movements like folding clothes and wiping tables so robots can learn them.

One of the largest, in suburban Beijing, was launched by the local Shijingshan government with humanoid company Leju. It covers more than 10,000 square meters and offers 16 training scenarios, including a mock car assembly line, according to a government statement cited by Rest of World. A project spokesperson quoted in that statement compared it to teaching children to walk with lots of practice.

Marco Wang, an analyst with Interact Analysis, told Rest of World the infrastructure buildup risks overcapacity: "There are some potential bubbles," he said. Goldman Sachs estimates, cited by Rest of World, put the worldwide humanoid robot market at $38 billion by 2035, with some 250,000 shipments as early as 2030.

The BBC reported in August 2026 that more than two million robots already work in China's factories, more than anywhere else, and that more than half of the world's industrial robots are now made in China. At EV maker Leapmotor, vice-president Cao Li told the BBC that in workshops including stamping, welding and painting, the company has basically achieved 100% automation. Asked whether the humans doing final checks might one day be unneeded, Cao said it is entirely possible and may come relatively quickly.