# The Hyundai robots

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
>
> Cite as: "The Hyundai robots," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-hyundai-robots/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The South Korean robots John Kiriakou cites as the answer to a promise the Pentagon has been making for decades — long-life batteries solved by a Hyundai subsidiary, robots ready to go to market that can get into a self-driving car and do the grocery shopping, and his question of why DARPA has not managed it.*

- **Maker:** A Hyundai subsidiary in South Korea
- **Where he read it:** The Wall Street Journal, that weekend
- **The breakthrough:** Long-life batteries
- **The capability cited:** Getting into a self-driving car to do the grocery shopping
- **His question:** "Why hasn't DARPA figured that out?"

The **Hyundai robots** are [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s counter-example to the American defence research establishment: the thing the Pentagon has promised for decades, delivered by somebody else.

## The promise and the excuse

Kiriakou set it up with the promise. *"We've been told for decades they're working on this robot. It's gonna make soldiers obsolete. They just need to figure out the battery."*[1]

## Who figured out the battery

*"Well, you know what? The South Koreans figured out the battery. And now South Korea, I should say Hyundai's a subsidiary in South Korea that builds robots. It was highlighted in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend. They're ready to go to market with their robots with long life batteries that can do things like get in a self-driving car and go do your grocery shopping."*[2]

His two questions followed immediately: *"How come we don't have that?... Why hasn't DARPA figured that out?"*[2]

## The battery argument underneath

The robot was one instance of a wider point about battery chemistry. Kiriakou moved straight from it to the two Chinese firms he names as twenty years ahead — BYD and CATL — and from there to the car whose badge he had once had to have explained to him, at ["Beyond Your Dreams"](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/beyond-your-dreams).[2][3]

The consequence he draws is military rather than domestic: *"those batteries will go into military drones. They will go into military robots. They will go into all kinds of other equipment. And the US won't have that technology."*[4]

## See also

- ["Whatever DARPA's working on"](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/whatever-darpa-is-working-on)
- ["Beyond Your Dreams"](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/beyond-your-dreams)
- [China as economic threat](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/china-economic-threat)

## Sources

1. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:44:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=6289s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
2. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:45:20. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=6320s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
3. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:45:51. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=6351s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/
4. War with Iran - Interview with John Kiriakou (2026-02-11), at 1:46:54. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v73fo1y&t=6414s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2026-02-11-health-ranger-report-war-with-iran-interview-with-john-kiriakou/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-hyundai-robots/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt