BMW to put humanoid robots on production line at German plant

BMW will deploy humanoid robots directly onto its vehicle production line at its Leipzig plant in Germany.

This marks the first time BMW has placed humanoids on an assembly line at one of its European factories.

A small number of robots supplied by Swedish firm Hexagon will perform general assembly tasks and manufacture high-voltage batteries for electric vehicles.

These jobs are physically demanding and require workers to wear heavy protective clothing.

The pilot follows a successful 10-month trial at BMW’s Spartanburg plant in South Carolina. There the robots handled sheet metal parts for over 30,000 vehicles while running 10-hour shifts five days a week.

BMW production chief Milan Nedeljkovi? said the project improves competitiveness through digitalisation across Europe and worldwide.

The company aims to cut labor and manufacturing costs, boost productivity and relieve employees from exhausting work.

BMW joins Tesla, Hyundai, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Ford in rapidly adopting AI-powered humanoids.

The industry sees the technology as a way to counter high wages in Europe and cheap Chinese competition.

The Leipzig program launches later this year after a test deployment in April.

In time BMW plans to use humanoids to bring more supplier work in-house.