Humanoids in car plants: what BMW, Mercedes, Hyundai and UBTech pilots have reported

Carmakers have published far fewer results than their announcements suggest. The most detailed figures so far come from Figure AI, which reported in November 2025 that its Figure 02 robot loaded more than 90,000 sheet-metal parts at BMW's Spartanburg plant. Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and UBTech have described tasks, investments and delivery totals, but have not published comparable operating data from individual car plants.

This article goes through what each company has stated in its own releases, what kind of work the robots did, and how many appear to have been involved. Throughout, it separates three things: numbers measured in a pilot, totals a company says it delivered, and plans for the future.

Why car plants are the test bed

Car factories already use thousands of industrial robots, but these are mostly fixed arms behind guarding, each doing one programmed job. The pitch for humanoids is different. A robot shaped roughly like a person could, in theory, work at stations designed for people without rebuilding the line.

The jobs chosen for pilots are telling. They are not final assembly, where tolerances are tight and mistakes are costly. They are the repetitive tasks around the edges: moving parts from bins to fixtures, delivering kits of components to the line, and sequencing parts in the order the line needs them. These jobs are physically tiring for people and easy to measure, which makes them sensible places to start.

BMW and Figure: the one pilot with published numbers

BMW first described a trial in August 2024. In its release Successful test of humanoid robots at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg, the company said a Figure 02 robot had placed sheet-metal parts into fixtures used for chassis production. BMW was careful in its wording: it said there were no Figure robots at the plant at that time and no fixed timetable for bringing them in. The test was framed as a way to work out possible applications.

In November 2025, Figure published its own account of what followed, titled F.02 Contributed to the Production of 30,000 Cars at BMW. According to Figure, the robot worked ten-hour shifts from Monday to Friday on an active line, loading sheet-metal parts for a welding step that industrial robots then carry out. Figure states that over roughly eleven months the deployment logged more than 1,250 hours of runtime, loaded more than 90,000 parts and contributed to the production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles.

Those figures are the most concrete reported by anyone so far, but they need careful reading:

• They are Figure's figures. BMW is not quoted in the post, and we did not find a BMW release confirming the numbers.
• The number of robots is not stated. Figure refers to its deployment and later to a fleet-wide retirement, but does not say how many units worked at Spartanburg.
• Targets are not the same as results. Figure lists the requirements it worked to, including a 37-second load time within an 84-second cycle, more than 99% placement success per shift and zero human interventions per shift. The post does not say whether those targets were met consistently.
• The hardware had weak points. Figure names the forearm as its most frequent hardware failure point and says it redesigned the wrist electronics for its next model as a result.

By simple division of Figure's own totals, 90,000 parts over 1,250 hours is roughly 72 parts per hour of runtime. That is a rough average, not a measured line rate. Figure also says Figure 02 has now been returned from BMW as the model is retired. For what the successor is shown doing, see our article on Figure 03 and its published footage.

Mercedes-Benz and Apptronik: tasks and money, no results

Apptronik announced its agreement with Mercedes-Benz in March 2024. The release, Apptronik and Mercedes-Benz Enter Commercial Agreement, says the Apollo humanoid would bring assembly kits to the production line, inspect components, and later deliver totes of kitted parts during manufacturing. Apptronik lists Apollo as standing 5 ft 8 in tall, weighing 160 lb and able to lift up to 55 lb. The release does not name the plants involved.

Since then the relationship has become financial as well as operational. When Apptronik announced its $935 million Series A in February 2026, Mercedes-Benz was listed as a returning investor and strategic partner. The release talks about expanding commercial and pilot deployments, but gives no robot counts, no performance figures and no plant details.

An earlier TechCrunch report, Apptronik's humanoid robots take the first steps toward building themselves from February 2025, noted that the Mercedes partnership had not yet moved beyond the pilot stage and that Apptronik was aiming to start manufacturing commercial units in 2026. We found no later public statement from either company with measured results from a Mercedes plant.

Hyundai and Boston Dynamics: the largest plan, early testing

Hyundai Motor Group owns Boston Dynamics, so its humanoid plans are the most ambitious on paper. In January 2026, Boston Dynamics announced its production Atlas in Boston Dynamics Unveils New Atlas Robot to Revolutionize Industry. It said all Atlas deployments for 2026 were already committed, with fleets going to Hyundai's Robotics Metaplant Application Center and to Google DeepMind, and further customers planned from early 2027.

The same release says Hyundai is preparing to deploy tens of thousands of Boston Dynamics robots in its own factories, and that Hyundai has announced a $26 billion US investment that includes a robotics factory able to build 30,000 robots a year. These are statements of intent. A factory capacity figure is not a count of robots at work, and the release does not say how many of those robots would be humanoids rather than other Boston Dynamics machines.

On its Atlas product page, Boston Dynamics says Atlas has begun field testing on sequencing tasks at a Hyundai facility, and names part sequencing and machine tending among the planned jobs. It lists Atlas at 1.9 m tall and 90 kg, with a lift capacity of 50 kg briefly and 30 kg sustained, and a four-hour battery. As of early November 2026, we found no published figures on parts handled, hours run or intervention rates from those tests. More background is in our article on production Atlas and Hyundai's plans, and the robot's listed specifications are on the Atlas catalogue page.

UBTech: large delivery totals, few plant-level details

Chinese maker UBTech has promoted its Walker S series for factory work, including in car plants. Its most specific recent statement is in a July 2026 release, UBTECH and Hitachi Enter into Strategic Partnership. There, UBTech says it delivered and recognised revenue on more than 1,000 full-size humanoid industrial robots in 2025. It adds that industrial uses made up more than 80% of sales, across sectors it lists as automotive manufacturing, logistics, electronics, semiconductors, aerospace and industrial data collection.

That is a company-reported delivery total, not a pilot result. The release does not say how many units went to car plants, which carmakers received them, or what the robots achieved once installed. Several Chinese carmakers have appeared in UBTech's marketing over the past two years. However, we could not confirm the current status of those projects in a primary source, so we have left them out. The Walker S series is listed in our catalogue as UBTech Walker S. For how company totals compare with independent counts, see how many humanoids actually shipped.

Measured results versus announced plans

Taking the public record together, the evidence falls into three tiers:

1. Measured, from a single pilot: Figure's runtime, parts and vehicle figures from BMW Spartanburg, published by the robot maker and not independently checked.
2. Company totals: UBTech's figure of more than 1,000 humanoids delivered in 2025 across several industries, with no breakdown for car plants.
3. Plans and commitments: Hyundai's intended deployment of tens of thousands of Boston Dynamics robots, a 30,000-a-year robot factory, and Apptronik's planned expansion with Mercedes-Benz.

No carmaker has yet published its own data on productivity, cost per part or safety from a humanoid pilot. The tasks reported so far are narrow: loading, kitting and sequencing in fixed cells, usually on single shifts. That is real progress compared with lab demonstrations, but it is a long way from humanoids working across a whole plant.

What this means for event organisers

• Factory claims do not carry over to a stage or a stand. A robot that loads parts in a fixed, mapped cell is doing a very different job from one walking among visitors. Ask suppliers what the specific unit you are hiring has done in public settings.
• Check which robots you can actually hire. Most factory humanoids, including Figure's and Apptronik's, are not offered for event hire. Our overview of which humanoid robots you can hire today explains what is available.
• Read numbers the way you would read a press release. When a supplier quotes figures, ask who measured them, over how long, and with how many robots.
• Expect runtime limits. Figure ran ten-hour shifts and Atlas is listed with a four-hour battery, both in controlled settings. Plan charging or swaps for long event days.
• Industrial uptake may change the hire market over time. If carmakers move from pilots to fleets, more capable robots could reach the rental market, but no published timeline supports that yet.

Frequently asked questions

Which carmaker has published results from a humanoid robot pilot?

The most detailed figures relate to BMW's Spartanburg plant, but they were published by the robot maker, Figure AI, in November 2025. Figure says its Figure 02 robot ran more than 1,250 hours, loaded over 90,000 sheet-metal parts and contributed to more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles. BMW is not quoted in that post, and the number of robots used was not stated.

Are humanoid robots building cars on their own?

No. The pilots that have been described publicly involve narrow tasks such as loading parts into fixtures, delivering kits of components or sequencing parts for the line. At BMW, the Figure robot loaded parts that industrial robots then welded. None of the companies covered here has reported humanoids doing final assembly or working across an entire plant.

How many humanoid robots does Hyundai use in its factories?

Hyundai has not published a count of humanoids at work. Boston Dynamics said in January 2026 that its Atlas deployments for 2026 were committed to Hyundai's Robotics Metaplant Application Center and Google DeepMind, and that Hyundai plans to deploy tens of thousands of its robots. Its product page says Atlas has started field tests on sequencing tasks at a Hyundai facility.

What does Mercedes-Benz use the Apptronik Apollo robot for?

Apptronik's March 2024 release said Apollo would bring assembly kits to the production line, inspect components and later deliver totes of kitted parts. Mercedes-Benz has since invested in Apptronik, including in the February 2026 funding round. Neither company has published robot counts or measured results from a Mercedes plant.

Can event organisers hire the same humanoids used in car factories?

Generally not. Factory humanoids such as Figure's robots and Apptronik's Apollo are supplied under industrial agreements rather than offered for event hire. The humanoids available to rent for events are mostly other models, and a robot's factory record says little about how it behaves in a crowded venue. Ask suppliers about the specific unit and its public-event experience.

How this article was made: written by the humanoid4rent editorial team with AI assistance; every factual statement was checked against the sources listed below on 2026-11-04. Spotted an error? Write to info@humanoid4rent.com.