September 22, 2026
Humanoid robots are reshaping the factory floor, especially in China. Toyota is joining the bandwagon, targeting 400,000 units to modernize its production infrastructure. Can the bots take over from humans? Toyota has told investors it may need 400,000 robots and roughly 1 trillion yen ($6.4 billion) a year from 2028 to upgrade its factories. The […]
August 19, 2026
BMW has used a five-and-a-half-week production break at its Leipzig plant to carry out extensive upgrades ahead of Neue Klasse production. To that end, BMW replaced 240 lift tables and installed 160 new robots. BMW has yet to reveal which models it will produce there. As early as June, BMW announced plans to prepare its […]
August 10, 2026
Mitsubishi Motors is preparing to enter the humanoid robot race on an unusually ambitious scale. Together with University of Tokyo spin-off Highlanders, the Japanese carmaker plans to develop and mass-produce humanoid robots at its Kyoto plant, with production targeted for early 2027 and capacity eventually reaching up to 1,000 units a month. The project goes […]
July 24, 2026
BMW is developing its own software platform for future humanoid factory workers. At its Landshut component plant, the carmaker is developing a modular software stack that connects production data, artificial intelligence, and robots from different suppliers. Rather than building a BMW-branded rival to Tesla’s Optimus or XPeng’s IRON, it wants to control how humanoid robots […]
June 03, 2026
Ride-hailing giant Uber announces a three-way collaboration with chip giant Nvidia and Israeli artificial intelligence startup Autobrains to launch a second robotaxi program in Munich. With a different software approach, the technology bets on fast scalability and carmaker independence. Uber’s new deal combines Autobrains’ autonomous driving software, Nvidia’s Drive Hyperion Level 4 compute […]
June 01, 2026
American ride-hailing operator Waymo has brought its most ambitious vehicle yet into rotation: the purpose-built Ojai (pronounced: oh-hi), its sixth-generation robotaxi made in China. Rides are currently free, but not for long. All of Waymo’s previous autonomous vehicles were regular consumer cars converted into robotaxis: a Chrysler Pacifica minivan, the Volvo XC90, and then a […]
May 18, 2026
For the past several years, discussions surrounding driverless, cab-less electric freight have been heavily dominated by a single European player: Sweden’s Einride. Now, a well-funded Californian challenger emerges. Humble proposes an alternative to Einride’s established ‘Pod’ architecture. Its arrival launches a new phase of competition in autonomous port and yard logistics. San Francisco-based start-up Humble […]
May 07, 2026
California is closing a years-old legal loophole that made driverless cars effectively untouchable by traffic police. Starting this summer, autonomous vehicle manufacturers can be fined directly for moving violations committed by their vehicles. The question is: aren’t robotaxis built to behave under all conditions? For years, driverless cars in California operated in a gray zone. […]
February 04, 2026
Belgian retailer Colruyt will start a pilot project next month to have self-driving vans deliver groceries in Leuven. The project is an extension of Colruyt’s ‘Collect&Go’ service, which allows customers to order groceries online and pick them up at a Colruyt supermarket at their convenience. Colruyt primarily delivers to homes in and around major cities, […]
December 10, 2025
German luxury carmaker Mercedes has partnered with Chinese software firm Momenta to deploy autonomous S-Class limousines, aiming to differentiate itself from Waymo and Tesla with a premium offering. Mercedes is to enter the commercial robotaxi market with a fleet of autonomous S-Class limousines in Abu Dhabi, as the German manufacturer attempts to carve out a […]
November 10, 2025
When Chinese electric carmaker XPeng Motors unveiled its new humanoid robot Iron last week, the audience at a Guangzhou tech fair couldn’t believe their eyes. The tall, silver-skinned figure glided across the stage with slow, deliberate female movements — so human that murmurs rippled through the crowd. “It’s just a woman in a suit.” But […]
