South Korea's HL Group acquires French parking robot company Stanley Robotics to lead the development of automatic parking robot technology

On October 12, 2024, South Korea's HL Group announced plans to acquire French robotic parking company Stanley Robotics in the form of a controlling stake. HL Robotics, a subsidiary of the group, will acquire 403,647 shares of Stanley Robotics for approximately 32.2 billion won (US$24 million) to obtain a 74.1% stake in the French company. Stanley Robotics is the world's first company focused on outdoor autonomous parking robots. The company's flagship product, Stan, is an autonomous parking robot that is not restricted by space or structure and is widely regarded as leading the global commercialization of parking robots. Since Stanely Robotics successfully commercialized its autonomous parking robot in 2018, its valet parking robot service has been fully operational at Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport in France. It also signed a parking robot contract with Canadian National Railway in September 2023. HL Robotics hopes to lead the development of autonomous parking robot technology through this acquisition and position it as a key growth driver for the HL Group.