humanoid robots

Toyota's push comes as automakers race to develop and deploy humanoid robots.

Tesla’s pivot from making electric cars to humanoid robots is facing challenges because of complex robot hands and disgruntled employees pushing back against training their robotic replacements. The struggle to scale up production comes as Tesla CEO Elon Musk has bet the company’s future on AI and robotics. As someone who frequently makes claims that fail to materialize, Musk has described the Optimus humanoid robot as potentially “the biggest product ever” during Tesla’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call . But he also acknowledged that making an autonomous humanoid robot capable of handling many different tasks is “one of the hardest things to solve”—and now extensive reporting by The Information has revealed multiple complications that Tesla is trying to tackle while developing general-purpose robots and scaling up for mass production. Tesla’s Fremont factory in California has already stopped making the Model S sedan and Model X SUV as of May 2026, with the company switching both line workers and engineers over to working on Optimus, according to The Information. Read full article Comments

Toyota workers are already helping to train humanoid robots as part of the automaker’s race to eventually deploy 400,000 factory robots—but a Toyota executive said the robotic push is not meant to directly replace humans. Starting in 2028, the Toyota Motor group aims to start investing $6.42 billion every year in upgrading factories with the new robotic workforce, according to Nikkei Asia . The company wants to put 150,000 robots in its own automotive plants and deploy another 250,000 at group company facilities that produce various components and materials. Toyota has already begun deploying some of its ELEY humanoid robots across assembly lines to learn from human workers. Nikkei Asia reported that workers are teaching the robots, which roll around on wheels, to perform tasks requiring precise hand movements by wearing “jigs” based on the humanoids’ fingers. Read full article Comments