Hyundai Workers Strike Over Atlas Humanoids as Robot Push Spreads

Day and night shifts at Hyundai's Ulsan complex, the world's largest automotive plant, ended two hours early from July 13 to July 15. Four-hour strikes are planned from July 20 to 22, according to The Korea Times. The union represents more than 39,000 South Korean workers. Pushback began when Hyundai Motor Group unveiled the latest Atlas humanoid at the start of this year. Boston Dynamics, the US robotics company about to become a wholly owned Hyundai subsidiary, builds Atlas. Hyundai aims to deploy more than 25,000 Atlas robots across Hyundai and Kia plants, starting with US factories in 2028, The Korea Herald reported. Each unit costs an estimated $130,000 and may pay for itself within about two years, according to Samsung Securities analyst Esther Yim, speaking to Bloomberg. James Hong at Macquarie Securities Korea suggested that if the cost falls to $100,000, operational costs could drop below the US federal minimum wage of $7.25 and undercut a typical auto worker's salary.

The union wants to shift production workers from hourly pay to a fixed salary to protect against automation-driven cuts in work hours. It also seeks a retirement age rise from 60 to 65 and bigger bonuses, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Hyundai is not alone. Tesla is developing its Optimus robot for its EV factories, and BMW has run pilot tests with Figure AI humanoids at its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant. Chinese automakers including BYD are also trying humanoids, sometimes building their own. Automotive has been the leading adopter of industrial robots for decades. More than 1 million robots were already in car factories worldwide by 2021, one-third of all industrial robots, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The US had deployed 38,000 industrial robots as of 2025, with automotive installing 13,500 units.

Humanoids differ from those single-task arms. Robotics companies pitch AI-powered humanoids as eventually handling varied work while fitting spaces built for people. That vision still needs progress in AI training and hardware before robots work autonomously.

Hyundai plans to put Atlas to work first at Metaplant America, its EV factory near Savannah, Georgia, from 2028. US workers there are not unionized, so pushback may be lighter. However, the United Auto Workers, representing about 400,000 autoworkers across the US, Canada and Puerto Rico, has been trying to organize the site. Metaplant America is already the most heavily automated US auto factory, with more than 850 robots and 300 automated guided vehicles, according to IEEE Spectrum. Boston Dynamics' four-legged Spot has been deployed for exterior quality inspection in the weld shop, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter wrote after a July 2026 visit. Atlas will start by sorting and organizing parts. Jerald Roach, a general assembly executive at Metaplant, told the AJC that humanoids will not threaten the workforce. He said human hands and their sense of touch are needed for soft parts such as hoses, wires, carpets and trim panels.

Hyundai has committed to 8,100 full-time workers at Metaplant by 2031 under its Georgia economic development deal, which included an incentive package worth an estimated $2.1 billion. The AJC found the site already employed more than 3,800 workers by the end of 2025. Unions on both sides of the Pacific want firmer 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.