Hyundai Claims Humanoid Robot Plan Is Not Part of Talks With Striking Workers (arstechnica.com)
(Saturday July 25, 2026 @05:00PM (EditorDavid)
from the robot-wars dept.)
- Reference: 0184675020
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/26/07/25/0343230/hyundai-claims-humanoid-robot-plan-is-not-part-of-talks-with-striking-workers
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/hyundai-claims-humanoid-robot-plan-is-not-part-of-talks-with-striking-workers/
[1] Ars Technica reports :
> Hyundai Motor Company's plan to put humanoid robots to work by 2028 is not part of current negotiations with striking South Korean autoworkers, according to the company.
>
> The automaker is disputing [2]news reports that partial labor strikes by the Hyundai Motor union at the world's largest automotive plant in South Korea were spurred by concerns about the company's planned deployment of humanoid robots in the United States starting in 2028. [The planned robots are built by Boston Dynamics, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hyundai.] A Hyundai statement shared with Ars describes the union's demands as focusing on compensation-related issues such as wage increases, bonuses, and an extension of workers' retirement age. "Potential deployment of robots in Korean production facilities is not part of the current labor-management discussions," according to the Hyundai statement...
>
> Hyundai emphasized that its current plan only covers the initial deployment of the Atlas humanoid robot at Metaplant America, an electric vehicle factory near Savannah, Georgia, starting in 2028. "Decisions about future Atlas deployment at other facilities will be made thoughtfully, in accordance with local operational needs, and in dialogue with the employees and workforce representatives at those sites," the company stated. However, The Wall Street Journal [3]described the Hyundai Motor union as making "unprecedented demands seeking to enshrine job protections in the era of robots and AI," and characterized certain compensation demands as hedging against potential reductions in work hours caused by AI adoption and robotic automation. "Remember that without labor-management agreement, not a single robot using new technology will be allowed to enter the workplace," the union told Hyundai in an internal letter [4]reported by Reuters .
>
> Hyundai management and the labor union are currently reviewing a proposed wage reform that would "provide factory workers with greater income stability even after the carmaker's planned deployment of humanoid robots," [5]The Korea Times reported . But experts cautioned that the wage overhaul, which would convert hourly pay for overtime and night-shift allowances into fixed wages, could come at the expense of company productivity.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/hyundai-claims-humanoid-robot-plan-is-not-part-of-talks-with-striking-workers/
[2] https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/fear-of-humanoid-robots-spurs-human-workers-to-strike-at-hyundai-auto-factory/
[3] https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/the-fight-over-humanoid-robots-has-shut-down-a-car-factory-for-the-first-time-d45ac3e1
[4] https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/hyundai-motors-korean-union-warns-humanoid-robot-plan-sees-threat-jobs-2026-01-22/
[5] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/business/companies/20260721/hyundais-ai-era-wage-reform-faces-productivity-test
> Hyundai Motor Company's plan to put humanoid robots to work by 2028 is not part of current negotiations with striking South Korean autoworkers, according to the company.
>
> The automaker is disputing [2]news reports that partial labor strikes by the Hyundai Motor union at the world's largest automotive plant in South Korea were spurred by concerns about the company's planned deployment of humanoid robots in the United States starting in 2028. [The planned robots are built by Boston Dynamics, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hyundai.] A Hyundai statement shared with Ars describes the union's demands as focusing on compensation-related issues such as wage increases, bonuses, and an extension of workers' retirement age. "Potential deployment of robots in Korean production facilities is not part of the current labor-management discussions," according to the Hyundai statement...
>
> Hyundai emphasized that its current plan only covers the initial deployment of the Atlas humanoid robot at Metaplant America, an electric vehicle factory near Savannah, Georgia, starting in 2028. "Decisions about future Atlas deployment at other facilities will be made thoughtfully, in accordance with local operational needs, and in dialogue with the employees and workforce representatives at those sites," the company stated. However, The Wall Street Journal [3]described the Hyundai Motor union as making "unprecedented demands seeking to enshrine job protections in the era of robots and AI," and characterized certain compensation demands as hedging against potential reductions in work hours caused by AI adoption and robotic automation. "Remember that without labor-management agreement, not a single robot using new technology will be allowed to enter the workplace," the union told Hyundai in an internal letter [4]reported by Reuters .
>
> Hyundai management and the labor union are currently reviewing a proposed wage reform that would "provide factory workers with greater income stability even after the carmaker's planned deployment of humanoid robots," [5]The Korea Times reported . But experts cautioned that the wage overhaul, which would convert hourly pay for overtime and night-shift allowances into fixed wages, could come at the expense of company productivity.
[1] https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/hyundai-claims-humanoid-robot-plan-is-not-part-of-talks-with-striking-workers/
[2] https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/fear-of-humanoid-robots-spurs-human-workers-to-strike-at-hyundai-auto-factory/
[3] https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/the-fight-over-humanoid-robots-has-shut-down-a-car-factory-for-the-first-time-d45ac3e1
[4] https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/hyundai-motors-korean-union-warns-humanoid-robot-plan-sees-threat-jobs-2026-01-22/
[5] https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/business/companies/20260721/hyundais-ai-era-wage-reform-faces-productivity-test
We promise ... (Score:2)
by PPH ( 736903 )
... no humanoid robots as replacements.
Ours will have tentacles.
Re: (Score:1)
by ambrandt12 ( 6486220 )
"Nah... we won't replace you with humanoid robot workers... it'll just be a boatload of robot arms, so you're not being replaced by humanoids :-)"
"Oh, well... that's fine then."
This kind of thing _will_ happen to all jobs; what prevents a robot arm controlled by AI from assembling burgers at McD's? They went from multiple people on the line to just one or two... one person doing 4-5 people's worth of work (to save money)... a robot can do all that and not cost anything beyond initial buy-in and occasional
So we've been automating Non-Stop (Score:2)
Since the late 70s. In America 70% of middle class jobs lost since then got taken by robots rather than outsourcing.
Because the people reading this are tech nerds and kind of old they got to avoid some of that. It's coming but there's a chance some of us will get to die before the shit hits the fan.
The thing is if you're someone planning on retiring in classic I got mine fuck you style your retirement is going to collapse unless you are extremely wealthy. Like if you have less than 10 or 15 million
Re: (Score:2)
It might actually be time to work on some skills of worth in a pre-industrial economy; the rich and their robots go one way, the poor get to survive if they can find enough productive land the rich don't claim and patrol with drones.
Once the rich have robot enforcement, there's no way they'll stop taking more and more and marginalizing anyone who tries to stop them.
The sad part is it's the poor who are enabling this - we build the robots, we design the AI. Right now, we are the servants to the ultra-wealth