Hyundai launches $400-million Boston Dynamics AI institute

The Hyundai Motor Group bought a controlling share in Boston Dynamics for US$800 million back in 2020, impressed by the potential of its array of world-leading humanoid, quadrupedal and other robots. Now it's investing half that again to develop AI. Hyundai is founding a new Boston Dynamics AI Institute, headquartered in the Kendall Square research precinct in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute's core research areas will be athletic AI, organic hardware design ... and yes, cognitive AI. There will also be research into the less-technical – but very important – areas of ethics and policy, as they intersect with this highly-charged space.