Hyundai Motor Group announced on the 7th that it has appointed Rohit Prasad, who led the development of Amazon’s AI secretary ‘Alexa’ for over 10 years, as the new CEO, Chief Executive Officer, of its robotics subsidiary Boston Dynamics. While Boston Dynamics has focused on manufacturing robots like the humanoid Atlas and built technical capabilities, the company now aims to accelerate commercialization by entrusting management to an AI expert and advancing physical AI technology.
Hyundai Motor Group is likely to continue its five-year streak as a top-three global automaker in sales this year. However, internally, there is a strong sense of crisis as Chinese automakers are rapidly catching up in major global markets outside the U.S. Additionally, Big Tech companies like Google are entering the automotive industry with autonomous robo-taxis. In robotics, China, which accounts for over 70% of global humanoid robot shipments, is the biggest competitor. Hyundai Motor Group recognizes that IT capabilities will ultimately determine competitiveness in both robots and automobiles, prompting aggressive talent recruitment.
◇Hiring 7 Big Tech Executives This Year Alone
Prasad, Boston Dynamics’ new CEO, served as Senior Vice President and Chief Scientist for Alexa and the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) organization at Amazon for 12 years until last year. His experience in commercializing Alexa technology was highly regarded.
Hyundai Motor Group plans to deploy Atlas at its Georgia Metaplant in the U.S. starting in 2028. Beyond this, expanding Atlas to industries like semiconductors, shipbuilding, and logistics requires AI-driven solutions—a message underscored by this appointment. Prasad stated in his inaugural remarks, “We will expand robotics applications across industries.”
Hyundai Motor Group’s recruitment of Big Tech talent began in January with Park Min-woo, Head of the Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP) Division, and has now reached seven known hires this year. In July, Kwon Jung-hyun, former of NVIDIA and Samsung Electronics, was appointed Head of 42dot’s autonomous driving development center. Kim Dong-wook, former of Apple and Tesla, and Jeremy Ma, former of NVIDIA, were named responsible for vehicle software platforms and Silicon Valley future mobility operations, respectively. Last month, three more joined: Angelo Corsaro, Senior Research Fellow specializing in data communication between vehicles, robots, and cloud systems; Kim Jae-young, Gleo AI Group Lead who researched voice AI at Google DeepMind and Amazon; and Chao Fang, an autonomous driving AI expert from NVIDIA.
◇Prioritizing Talent Acquisition Ahead of Commercialization
Globally, manufacturers with automotive and robotics capabilities are increasingly seeking Big Tech talent, particularly in AI. As AI for autonomous driving and humanoid robots approaches commercialization, talent recruitment has become more aggressive. In April, Mercedes-Benz appointed Rashmi Misra, who led AI, data, and new technology initiatives at Microsoft, to its supervisory board. She oversees AI and data strategies alongside corporate governance.
Apptronik, a U.S. humanoid robot company that secured $520 million (approximately 700 billion Korean won) in investments from Mercedes-Benz and Google in February, hired Chirag Shah, former of Amazon who worked on the Kindle and Alexa, as Software Vice President in April. Daniel Chu, who led the launch of Waymo’s fully autonomous ride-hailing service, also joined as Chief Product Officer. French AI robotics firm Genesis AI appointed Pali Kumar, who contributed to Tesla’s Autopilot and Amazon’s home robot Astro, as Operations Lead in May. A source from the domestic automotive industry said, “The key now is securing talent with experience in commercializing products, not just research.”
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