HL to acquire French parking robot firm Stanley Robotics for $24 million

HL Group, the construction-to-auto parts conglomerate in South Korea, will acquire the world’s sole outdoor self-driving parking robot-producing company, Stanely Robotics SAS, for about 32 billion won ($24 million) as it is seeking to foster autonomous parking robots as a new growth driver.

The company announced on Tuesday that HL Robotics, HL Holdings Corp.'s fully owned robotics subsidiary, will take over a 74.1% stake worth 403,647 shares in Stanley Robotics for about 32 billion won. 

The stake purchase deal will be completed in December with a full payment, making the Korean company the largest shareholder. The remaining stake will be controlled by Stanley Robotics founders who will continue managing the company.   

HL Holdings is HL Group’s holding company and owns 100% of HL Robotics after acquiring the new shares of the subsidiary in early September.

Founded in 2015 in Paris, France, Stanely Robotics is the world’s first and only company that has succeeded in commercializing self-driving outdoor parking robots.

With Stanley Robotics under its wing, the Korean conglomerate is expected to speed up its plan to lead autonomous parking robot technology as its new growth engine so it can command the global robot parking market.

GLOBAL LEADER IN OUTDOOR MOBILITY ROBOTICS

Since Stanely Robotics succeeded in commercializing autonomous parking robots in 2018, its robot valet parking service has been fully operational at Lyon-Saint Exupéry airport in France.

Last month, it bagged a subscription deal from the Canadian National Railway Company (CN), one of North America’s top three freight railways, to provide its parking robots and automotive logistics management program that will shuttle and park cars in CN’s compounds.

The French company expects to win more orders for its outdoor mobility robotic services following the latest deal, which has paved the way for its advance into North America following years of successful operations in Europe.

Stan, its flagship robot, moves and parks cars autonomously regardless of time or space as it follows an allocated path modelized by its software and makes strategic decisions.

It has pioneered the global autonomous parking market.

The global smart parking market, including robotic parking systems and driverless parking technology, is forecast to grow to $28.25 billion by 2030 from $12.42 billion in 2024 at a compound average growth rate of 14.74%, according to global market data provider Research and Markets.

The outlook for the automated parking system market growth is bright, given the increasing number of vehicles, scarcity of land for parking, rising urbanization and growing demand for green and sustainable parking solutions and smart cities.

HL Group also pins high hopes on robotic parking technology, with a plan to expand its robot business portfolio with Stanley Robotics, the company said.

ROBOTICS AS A GROWTH DRIVER

Founded in 1962, HL Group has been striving to enhance self-driving and electrified vehicle technologies amid rapid changes in the automotive industry landscape in recent years.

In 2021, it combined its two autonomous driving business units – Mando Mobility Solutions and Mando Hella Electronics – to launch HL Klemove.

Its sibling HL Mando Corp., an EV and self-driving system developing unit of HL Group, has also developed a nearly fully autonomous valet parking robot, Parkie, powered by Level 4 autonomous driving technology.

HL Robotics is, however, expected to play a central role in developing autonomous robot technology in HL Group by taking over the related businesses from HL Mando and HL Klemove.

HL Group Chairman Jung Mong-won urged employees to reinvent the group’s business with new growth drivers and expected HL Robotics to lay the groundwork for it at a ceremony commemorating the group’s 62nd anniversary on Tuesday last week.

Its Kospi-listed parent HL Holdings shares ended down 1.1% at 34,750 won on Tuesday. 

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.