Hyundai Motor Group is starting to look like a company building machines that act in the real world. The change centres on physical AI : Where AI is placed into robots and systems that move and respond in physical spaces. Current efforts are mainly focused on factory and industrial settings. Hyundai’s move into physical AI systems In an interview with Semafor, chairman Chung Eui-sun said robotics and AI will play a central role in Hyundai’s next phase of growth, pushing the company beyond vehicles and into physical systems. The group plans to invest $26 billion in the US by 2028, according to United Press International, building on roughly $20.5 billion invested over the past 40 years. A large part of that spending is tied to robotics and AI-driven systems that Hyundai is combining into a single approach. Chung described robotics and physical AI as important to Hyundai’s long-term direction, adding that the company is developing robots to work with people not replace them.…