By Bert Brantley
On Jan. 4, “60 Minutes” viewers across the country caught a glimpse at what the narrator called “the future of the future” – advanced robotics at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America facility just outside of Savannah.
It was the first public look at the next generation of the Metaplant facility since its opening in 2024. An incredibly clean, comfortable facility with as many autonomous moving parts as there are Metapros – the nickname given to employees at the plant.
“Atlas” is a humanoid robot developed by Boston Dynamics, which is mostly owned by South Korean conglomerate Hyundai Motor Group (HMG), a clear signal of the company’s bet on this technology. This robot is especially adept at doing repetitive functions such as the “60 Minutes” clip that showed Atlas sorting roof racks.
But what has us in Coastal Georgia really excited is what Hyundai announced two days after the segment aired, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. CES has become the place for all kinds of brands to roll out new technologies, and it’s easy to see who stole this year’s show.
First, HMG confirmed that the Savannah Metaplant will be the test lab for integrating Atlas into regular processes.
By 2028, routine tasks will rely on robotics for routine tasks such as parts sequencing. By 2030, the HMG press release confirms “applications will extend to component assembly, and over time, Atlas will also take on tasks involving repetitive motions, heavy loads, and other complex operations — ensuring safer working environments for factory employees.”
Second, HMG announced that its Group Affiliates – including Hyundai Motor, Kia, Hyundai Mobis, and Hyundai Glovis – will collaborate together and build an “End-to-End (E2E) AI robotics value chain.” If those names sound familiar, all of those affiliates have operations right here in Georgia, making our state the clear hub for this activity.
And, finally, and most importantly, HMG will invest $26 billion (yes, that’s billion with a “b”) in the United States over the next four years, teaming with leading stateside companies in robotics, AI, autonomous driving, and other future technologies.
This investment includes a new robotics facility with an annual capacity of 30,000 units. While a location was not announced, Georgia could be the perfect place to maximize the synergy between all the HMG affiliates and other investments the company has made.
Georgia first established its South Korea trade and investment office in 1985. Gov. Kemp led a delegation to Seoul last October to celebrate this four-decade relationship, and the incredible level of investment and job creation our state has attracted from Korean firms. No one could have imagined back in 1985 what this partnership would ultimately create, which is a great reminder that big ideas often result from those initial first small steps.
Some will worry that robots with the ability to learn on their own are actually a threat to our future. If you go back to the mid 1800s, you can easily find English and Scottish writers warning about the dangers of the Industrial Revolution. It is natural to fear the unknown, and those writers didn’t have countless sci-fi movies as “evidence” to prove their point.
But like calculators, computers, and smart phones, each one with plenty of dire predictions made upon their invention, humans have shown their ability to invent new technology that solves problems and inefficiencies while retaining “control” of the innovation.
Just as it has for hundreds of years, work will change. The U.S. economy today looks much different than it did decades ago, and our future economy will likely blow our minds. We have the choice to lean in and be part of this new wave of private investment, or stand by and let the opportunity pass us by.
Georgia has shown our capability in meeting the challenge of the moment, so the question here is simple.
Do we have the guts to do it again?
Bert Brantley is President & CEO of the Savannah Area Chamber of Commerce, the leading voice for business interests in Coastal Georgia. Before moving to Savannah, Bert spent more than two decades in various state government leadership positions, including Deputy Chief of Staff for the Office of Governor Brian P. Kemp, Chief Operating Officer of the Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Director of Communications for the Office of Governor Sonny Perdue.
