# Toyota plans $6.42 billion in annual factory-robot upgrades from 2028

_Published Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at 2:09 PM EDT · Robotics, Products · Latest · Tier 1 — Major_

![Robotic arms on the vehicle assembly line at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing Czech Republic s.r.o. plant in Kolin, Czech Republic, on Feb. 2, 2026. — Primary](https://cdn.arstechnica.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Toyota-motor-manufacturing-plant-1152x648.jpg)

Toyota Motor plans to begin spending $6.42 billion a year in 2028 to upgrade factories for a workforce that could eventually include 400,000 robots, Nikkei Asia reported. The automaker wants 150,000 robots in its vehicle plants and another 250,000 at group facilities producing components and materials.

Workers have begun training wheeled ELEY humanoids for precise hand movements by wearing fixtures modeled on the robots' fingers. Toyota has not said how many robots are already deployed or how many of the planned machines will be humanoids, and an executive said the program is intended to support coexistence with workers rather than direct replacement.

## Sources

- [Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/09/toyota-claims-plan-for-400000-factory-robots-wont-replace-human-workers/)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/eS7gUDbMwOz7elaMRPx2aP
Published: 2026-09-22T18:09:00.891Z
Story chronology: 2026-09-22T17:06:16.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-09-22T19:39:08.855Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)