Toyota plans to invest about ¥1 trillion (around $6.4bn) a year from 2028 to add up to 400,000 in-house robots to its factories, according to reports of the company’s plans on 20 and 21 September.
About 150,000 would work in Toyota’s own plants and 250,000 across group companies. Its humanoid robot learns by copying workers, who wear finger-shaped jigs modelled on its hands while doing routine tasks.
Toyota says it wants robots to work alongside people rather than replace them. Nothing has been deployed at this scale yet.
Why it matters: it is one of the largest factory robot commitments any carmaker has put a number on.
Source: autoevolution. Also reported by Just Auto.