Hyundai Workers Stage First-Ever Strike Over Humanoid Robot Deployment

Thousands of unionized Hyundai auto workers in Ulsan, South Korea, have begun striking after negotiations broke down over plans to deploy humanoid robots, marking the first factory stoppage in the automotive industry directly addressing such automation. Workers ended day and night shifts two hours early from July 13 to 15 and plan four-hour strikes from July 20 to 22 following 15 failed negotiation rounds. The union pushback started when Hyundai unveiled the Atlas humanoid robot—a 6-foot-tall, 100-pound-lifting machine from Boston Dynamics, which Hyundai is in the process of acquiring as a wholly owned subsidiary.