BMW Adds Humanoids to Assembly

BMW is moving humanoid robots from a South Carolina trial to a new pilot in Leipzig, as the carmaker looks for cheaper, more flexible factory labor. (bmwgroup.com) BMW said on March 9, 2026 that its Leipzig plant had started Germany’s first pilot project for a humanoid robot in BMW production. The robot, called AEON, is 1.65 meters tall, weighs 60 kilograms, moves on wheels, and is being used with Hexagon, BMW’s sensor and software partner. (bmwgroup.com) That expansion follows BMW’s earlier work with Figure at Plant Spartanburg in South Carolina. BMW said in August and September 2024 that Figure 02 was its first humanoid used in production, where it handled sheet-metal parts in the body shop. (press.bmwgroup.com, bmwgroup.com) Figure said on November 19, 2025 that two Figure 02 robots had completed an 11-month deployment at Spartanburg, running 10-hour shifts Monday through Friday. The company said the robots loaded more than 90,000 parts, logged more than 1,250 hours, and contributed to production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles. (figure.ai) The factory logic is simple: most car plants are built for people, with aisles, racks, bins, carts, and workstations sized for human hands and human reach. A humanoid robot can be moved into those spaces without rebuilding the line around a fixed machine. (bmwgroup.com, bmwgroup.com) BMW’s own use cases are narrow and physical, not science-fiction general intelligence. In Spartanburg, the robot picked sheet-metal parts from racks or bins and placed them on a welding fixture; in Leipzig, BMW said AEON is slated for high-voltage battery assembly and component manufacturing from summer 2026. (figure.ai, bmwgroup.com, visit-bmwgroup.com) The pitch to automakers is not that a humanoid can do every job. It is that software can retask one machine for different jobs as model mixes change, while older industrial robots are usually bolted in place for one repeatable motion. (bmwgroup.com, bmwgroup.com) BMW has also framed the robots as a way to take over “ergonomically awkward and exhausting tasks,” not to replace entire plants. The company said safety in automotive production is under constant assessment as it tests where humanoids can fit. (bmwgroup.com) The technical bar is still high. Figure said its BMW task required placing parts within a 5-millimeter tolerance in about 2 seconds, with a target of more than 99 percent successful cycles per shift and zero human resets. (figure.ai) BMW’s next test is whether those numbers hold outside a single pilot task and across more of the factory. For now, the company is treating humanoids less like all-purpose robot workers and more like mobile tools for jobs that already exist on a human assembly line. (bmwgroup.com, figure.ai)