BMW Group announced on Friday that it will deploy its first pilot project of humanoid robots at a European car plant, after the successful program rolled out last year at the South Carolina plant.
The German giant will use a robot based on Zürich-based Hexagon Robotics’ AEON for high-voltage battery assembly and component manufacturing.
The robot can be equipped with different grippers, hands, or sensors as needed, and moves freely on wheels throughout the production area.
According to the premium carmaker, the robot underwent an “initial theoretical evaluation phase and successful laboratory tests”, followed by an initial test deployment at its factory last December.
Another testing implementation at the Leipzig plant is planned to start in April, before beginning the pilot phase “in the Summer.”
The group — which includes the core BMW brand, MINI and Rolls Royce — stated that the new project’s main goals are the integration of humanoid robots “into existing series production of cars” and the exploration of “further applications in the production of batteries and components.”
Last year, BMW Group implemented a pilot project with humanoid robots in the United States, marking the firm’s first in the world.
The automaker said on Friday that it aims to “relieve employees and further improve working conditions.”
Speaking about the company’s adoption of physical AI, which enables robots to learn and adapt to manufacturing tasks in real-world environments, BMW AG‘s Board Member for Production Milan Nedeljković emphasized the technology’s potential.
“Digitalisation improves the competitiveness of our production – here in Europe and worldwide. The symbiosis of engineering expertise and artificial intelligence opens up entirely new possibilities in production,” he stated.
To test the new technology in an industrial environment under real-life conditions, BMW Group formed a new Center of Competence for Physical AI in Production.
Felix Haeckel, the Center’s leader, noted that he and his team are “pooling [their] expertise to make knowledge on AI and robotics widely usable within the company.”
BMW said it already uses AI to create a “virtual factory with digital twins and AI‑enabled quality controls to intralogistics” while using autonomous transport solutions between “almost all” production steps at its plants.
Spartanburg Project
Prior to the European pilot project, BMW Group had already deployed humanoid robots at its Spartanburg plant in the US in 2025, using the robot from Figure AI.
The group initially tested the technology company’s Figure 02 in all areas across the production process, starting with the body shop, which already had high levels of automation.
At the time, material supply on the line was already mostly handled by automated smart transport robots (STR).
The integration of Figure 02 received “great interest among employees,” becoming “a natural part of everyday work during the course of the project,” BMW Group said.
The Munich-headquartered brand said that both companies are “currently evaluating additional use cases for deploying the Figure 03 robot.”
Within only ten months of usage, the robot supported the manufacturing of over 30,000 units of the BMW X3 model — according to the automaker.
Tesla’s Humanoid
During Tesla‘s Q4 2025 earnings conference call, the company’s CEO Elon Musk said that the Optimus humanoid robot is already “doing some basic tasks in the factory.”
However, Musk described it as “still in the R&D phase” rather than active production use.
“It’s not in usage in our factories in a material way. It’s more so that the robot can learn. We wouldn’t expect to have any kind of significant Optimus production volume until probably the end of this year,” the CEO emphasized.
At the time, the US giant also announced that it would discontinue the high-end Model S and X, with its lines being transformed into Optimus production lines.
Tesla will be launching the version 3 of the Optimus robot later this year.
