Hyundai Motor Group has launched the Boston Dynamics AI Institute, with the goal of making fundamental advances in artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and intelligent machines. The Group and Boston Dynamics will make an initial investment of more than $400 million in the new Institute, which will be led by Marc Raibert, founder of Boston Dynamics.

Hyundai Motor Group acquired an 80% controlling interest in Boston Dynamics in 2021. (Earlier post.)

As a research-first organization, the Institute will work on solving the most important and difficult challenges facing the creation of advanced robots. The Institute’s culture is designed to combine the best features of university research labs with those of corporate development labs while working in four core technical areas: cognitive AI; athletic AI; organic hardware design; and ethics and policy.

To achieve such advances, the Institute will invest resources across the technical areas of cognitive AI, athletic AI and organic hardware design, with each discipline contributing to progress in advanced machine capabilities. In addition to developing technology with its own staff, the Institute plans to partner with universities and corporate research labs.

The Institute will be headquartered in the heart of the Kendall Square research community in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Institute plans to hire AI and robotics researchers, software and hardware engineers, and technicians at all levels.

In addition to the Institute, Hyundai Motor Group separately announced plans to establish a Global Software Center to lead development of its software capabilities and technologies and to enhance its capabilities to advance development of Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs). The Center will be established on the basis of 42dot, an autonomous driving software and mobility platform startup recently acquired by the Group.