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The evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) and the advancements it drives in robotics and autonomous driving are two key themes at the CES 2026 technology conference in Las Vegas this week.
On Monday, semiconductor giant Nvidia announced plans for self-driving cars, while Hyundai Motor Co.’s Boston Dynamics demonstrated its humanoid robot Atlas in public for the first time, showing it is no longer a prototype.
Here are some of the key advances unveiled by both companies:
Hyundai says the Atlas reduces repetitive human physical tasks, such as carrying objects, and reduces human physical strain by performing more risky tasks. Build “the foundation for the commercialization of robots and a collaborative environment between humans and robots.”
At the event, the robot walked around the stage for several minutes and waved to the audience.
The company said a production version of the robot, which helps assemble cars, is already in production and will be installed at Hyundai’s electric vehicle manufacturing facility near Georgia by 2028.
Hyundai also revealed its entire robot strategy, including the so-called MobED droid, a wheeled robot that can cover a variety of terrain, which won the CES 2026 Innovation Award when the show opened this week.
Boston Dynamics also participated in Nvidia’s press conference, which was held at the same time as Hyundai’s press conference.
The semiconductor giant announced strategic AI partnerships with Boston Dynamics and Google DeepMind.
βThe ChatGPT moment has arrived for robotics. Breakthroughs in physical AIβmodels that understand the real world, reason with it, and plan actionsβwill unlock entirely new applications,β said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of Nvidia.
Huang also brought robots on stage, but these were BDX droids, small robots from Star Wars. It’s not quite as useful as the Atlas robot, but it’s also very cute since it probably doesn’t carry much.
Nvidia takes to the roads
Meanwhile, another important message from Nvidia is its self-driving plans.
The company also has a pilot version that will go on sale in the new Mercedes-Benz CLA, which Nvidia says will go on sale in the U.S. in the first quarter, Europe by the second quarter, and then in Asia.
The technology behind this is called Alphamayo, which Nvidia announced on Monday.
Alphamayo is a set of open-source artificial intelligence (AI) models, datasets, and simulation tools used to train physical robots and vehicles.
It works by helping self-driving cars reason in various driving situations, such as traffic jams at intersections.
β(Alpamayo) does more than just take input from sensors and actuate the steering, brakes and accelerator,β Huang said.
“It also tells you what actions it’s going to take. You can see what actions it’s going to take and why it’s taking those actions. And, of course, you can see its trajectory.”
Because the technology is open source, other companies can also tweak the technology to suit their needs.