Hyundai Workers Strike Over Humanoid Robots at World's Largest Car Plant

The partial strike at Hyundai's automotive production complex in Ulsan began on July 13 and ran through July 15. Day and night shifts ended two hours early, according to The Korea Times. Workers plan to escalate to four-hour strikes from July 20 to 22, the paper reported.

At the center of the dispute is Atlas, a two-legged robot made by Boston Dynamics. It stands more than 6 feet tall and can lift over 100 pounds. Hyundai Motor Group unveiled the latest version at the start of this year, and the union pushed back almost immediately.

25,000 robots and a pay demand

Hyundai aims to deploy more than 25,000 Atlas robots across Hyundai and Kia manufacturing plants, according to The Korea Herald. The company plans to start with its US factories in 2028. It has not disclosed a timeline for deploying elsewhere.

Each Atlas robot costs an estimated $130,000, but it may pay for itself within about two years of operations, according to Samsung Securities analyst Esther Yim in a Bloomberg interview. If the robot cost eventually falls to $100,000, James Hong at Macquarie Securities Korea suggested its operational cost could fall below the US federal minimum wage of $7.25 and significantly undercut a typical auto worker's salary.

The Hyundai Motor union represents more than 39,000 South Korean workers. It has demanded the automaker shift production workers' hourly pay to a fixed salary to protect against automation-driven cuts in work hours, The Wall Street Journal reported. It also wants the retirement age raised from 60 to 65, plus bigger bonuses.

The Wall Street Journal described the Ulsan stoppage as the car industry's first factory stoppage addressing humanoid robots.

Hyundai is far from alone. Tesla is developing its Optimus robot for its electric vehicle factories, and BMW has run pilot tests with humanoid robots from Figure AI at its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant. Multiple Chinese automakers, including BYD, are trying out humanoid robots and sometimes building their own.

The Georgia factory and its 850 robots

Hyundai plans to first put Atlas to work at Metaplant America, its EV factory outside Savannah, Georgia, starting in 2028. US workers there are not unionized, though the United Auto Workers has been trying to organize the Georgia facility. The UAW represents about 400,000 autoworkers across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Metaplant America is already considered the most heavily automated automotive factory in the United States. It has more than 850 robots unloading parts, stamping steel components, assembling car frames and installing doors, according to IEEE Spectrum. It also uses 300 automated guided vehicles to carry parts to work stations while avoiding human workers.

Boston Dynamics' four-legged robot Spot has been deployed at the plant's weld shop for what the company calls exterior quality inspection. During a July 2026 visit, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter watched the robotic dogs probe their sensor-embedded noses to sniff out defects.

Atlas robots would start by sorting and organizing automotive parts when they arrive in 2028. Jerald Roach, a general assembly executive at Hyundai's Metaplant, told the AJC the humanoid robots will not threaten the human workforce. He described human hands and their sense of 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 as part of 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.

Unions in both countries want stronger commitments. The UAW recently criticized General Motors for installing about 50 new robot arms at its flagship Detroit EV factory after laying off more than 1,300 workers as a supposedly temporary measure. At the UAW Constitutional Convention in Detroit in June 2026, president Shawn Fain also warned against the automation push, though the Ars Technica account of his remarks cuts off mid-sentence.