Toyota wants to become a global robotics power, and to get there it plans to invest $6.4 billion a year in humanoid robots and factory automation. The plan, first reported by the Financial Times, involves deploying 400,000 robots starting in 2028, making the world's largest automaker a major player in the sector.
The number needs careful reading. According to the Financial Times, the 400,000 robots are not a stated order for humanoids but a broader total covering different kinds of machines. About 250,000 units are earmarked for Toyota group companies and their suppliers, while the rest stays in Toyota's own plants. To coordinate the project, the company is setting up a dedicated team under its chief production officer.
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The strategy builds on two decades of robotics research. The plan aims to turn that work into a concrete source of growth beyond the car business. Toyota's own factories come first: an executive notes that the environment there is easier to control than warehouses or streets. Only after that internal experience does the group look at selling robots to outside customers.
A central role belongs to Walden Robotics, the AI robotics company spun out of the Toyota Research Institute. In July Walden raised $300 million at a $1.1 billion valuation and already supplies robots to Toyota plants in North America. The Toyota Research Institute, based in California, develops the foundation model also used by Boston Dynamics.
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The humanoid market is crowded. Rivals include Tesla, Xpeng and Hyundai, which plans to start building its Atlas robot in the United States in 2028. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate that Toyota could capture between three and eight percent of the humanoid robot market by 2035.
Investors remain cautious. Toyota has fallen short of expectations before, with hydrogen cars and solid-state batteries, and many observers want concrete proof before backing the new project. The 400,000-robot plan will therefore be judged mostly by what the company achieves in its own factories by 2028.
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