BMW Group brings humanoid robots to Germany

The automaker has launched a pilot at its Leipzig plant using Hexagon Robotics’ AEON humanoid. The move follows a successful 11-month run in the US with Figure AI’s robots, and arrives just as the production chief who championed the programme prepares to take the top job.

A new colleague has arrived on the shop floor at BMW’s Leipzig plant. It stands 1.65 metres tall, weighs 60 kilograms, and instead of feet, its legs end in wheels. Its name is AEON, and it represents something genuinely new for European manufacturing: the first humanoid robot deployed in production in Germany.

BMW Group announced the Leipzig pilot on 9 March 2026, framing it as the latest step in what the company calls its ‘physical AI’ strategy, the convergence of artificial intelligence and robotics at the level of the factory floor. The robot is built by Hexagon Robotics, the physical AI ...