Toyota sees need for around 400,000 robots in future factories

Toyota's technology chief Hiroki Nakajima told investors and Japanese media in Brussels that the company, its group companies and major suppliers may need around 400,000 robots at their factories in the future as part of efforts to automate and modernize production facilities.

According to the current outline, about 150,000 robots would be used by Toyota and group companies, while about 250,000 would be deployed across major suppliers. Toyota estimates that from 2028, the full-scale automation drive could require annual investment of roughly 1 trillion yen (about 5.6 billion euros). The 400,000 figure covers both new and replacement equipment, and includes humanoid and non-humanoid robots. No specific deployment timeline has been given, and the number does not mean Toyota will buy 400,000 humanoid robots at once.

Toyota noted that the automation plan is partly a response to aging production facilities and labor shortages in manufacturing. The goal is not simply to replace workers with robots, but to create a production environment where humans and robots work together. Robots would take on repetitive, difficult or physically demanding tasks, while skilled workers help teach robots through their manufacturing experience.

Toyota has already been testing robot applications such as parts transport and picking in factory settings. A key development project is ELEY, a new mobile manipulation robot that uses human-like joints and arms on a wheeled base. Toyota hopes to use Physical AI so the robot can learn complex operations by imitating human actions, with further testing planned in near-real production environments to improve reliability, precision and autonomous learning.