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(upbeat music)This may look like just another car factory,but it's actually a new microfactorymanned by autonomous robot dogsand robotic arms monitored by AI. (motor whizzing)It's designed to change the way cars are producedand it's been built in the heart of one of the smallestand most expensive countries in the world, Singapore. <v ->Typically, car manufacturers don't build car factoriesin dense urban cities like Singapore,but here it's gonna be different for most car factories. Robots are going to do a lot of the manufacturingand it's gonna be a much more flexible model. Microfactories reinvent the way cars are madeby automating most of the processand building them in a cellrather than along a production line. <v ->This could be the futurein which we talk in a couple of years from now. Microfactories are one of the biggest changesto car making in a generation, and if the concept is proven,it could shape the future of the industry. For over 100 years, cars have been built in large plantsmanned by hundreds of workers. Hyundai has pushed aside the traditional assembly processto allow for a much smaller footprint. <v ->Behind me there are robots that are putting togetherthe final finishing touches on a car. Typically in a more conventional manufacturing process,that would actually largely be done by humans. It would be done in a long assembly line,which doesn't allow for much customization. (bright music)In traditional auto factories,vehicles travel along a linear pathand parts are installed along an assembly line. While the procedure is increasingly automated,the basic process hasn't significantly changed. <v ->Here it's different, it's a cell-based model,which means that there are different cellsaround the factory floor where they are focusedon different tasks, and that actually allowsfor a lot more automation. In each cell, robots are taskedwith installing several components of the carbefore it's moved to the next zone. Cells can be modified with different instructionsfrom installing parts in an identical car design,to assembling a different vehicle altogether. Hyundai says that more than 50% of the manufacturing processat its Singapore microfactory is done by robots. Automated ground vehicles move the cars around the factory,while four-legged robots equipped with AI camerasmonitor and analyze the assembly. Issues identified by the robot dogsare then fixed by human workers. <v ->Even though we're a small factory,we're producing cars as a mass manufacturer. So what allows us to do thatis the usage of flexible automationand a large portion of systems intelligence behindto orchestrate the manufacturing. Hyundai says because productionis highly automated, only about 100 workers would be neededto produce the plant's capacity of 30,000 cars per year. That means a worker at the microfactorycould produce two to three times the number of carscompared to a person in a traditional factory. <v ->For sure, we will still need large-scale factories.We will still need to produce as many cars as possiblein the most effective way when it comes to overall mobility,but we feel that the answer is not only that,and that in an urban environment, having a smaller factorythat allows us to produce as many different typesof mobility devices in a cost effective wayis absolutely critical. Hyundai's plant in Singaporeis the country's first auto factory in over 40 years. While microfactories could allow wealthier countriesto rebuild manufacturing industries,the move toward greater automationwill mean fewer manual jobs for workers. <v ->In a typical assembly plant, you would thinkfor the assembly operation of high single digitto low digit percentage of automated tasks,we are at around 50% already. When it comes to logistics, the provision of the right partto the right cell is, again,something where we've automated over 60% already. It's also in very low double digit in other factories. It's essentially manual. Microfactories are largely untested groundfor the auto industry. Arrival and EV startup producing vanshas committed to manufacturing their vehiclesout of microfactories. However, the company has only delivereda small number of the vehicles it forecastedout of its plant in the UK. Arrival has struggled to ramp up productionand have pushed back a planned second microfactoryin the US. For now, Hyundai says it's the only major car makerto start building vehicles out of one. <v ->We have a thesis for the future of mobility.As we test the market, if we realize that this is right,you could see smart urban mobility hubsin many different urban environments. While the concept behind microfactoriesremains unproven at a mass scale,they provide a glimpse into what car making could look likeas the industry heads towards a futurethat is more automated. (bright music continues)