Toyota and Honda are testing humanoid robots at their factories in Japan, with tasks covering wire harness installation to final inspection. Both automakers showcased their latest products at the 2026 Japan Mobility Show. Toyota plans to deploy up to 400,000 robots starting in 2028, with about 150,000 at its headquarters plant, emphasizing that robots will work alongside humans rather than replace them.
Nakajima said Toyota, group companies and major suppliers may need about 400,000 robots across their factories, with roughly 150,000 for Toyota and group firms and 250,000 for suppliers. Investment could reach about 1 trillion yen (about 5.6 billion euros) per year from 2028. The total covers new and upgraded robots, humanoid and non-humanoid, with no set timeline. Toyota is testing parts transport and picking, and is focusing on mobile manipulation robot ELEY to build a human-robot shared production environment.
Toyota Motor Group plans to deploy 400,000 self-developed robots at about 60 factories worldwide, including 150,000 at its own plants and 250,000 at group company plants. Its core product, ELEY, an embodied learning robot, can learn skills by observing workers and has demonstrated folding T-shirts at its European headquarters. The company will invest about 1 trillion yen annually from 2028 to upgrade factories.