DEPLOYDatabase

Company

BMW Group

bmwgroup.com

BMW Group is the global automotive manufacturer whose Spartanburg plant hosted the world's first publicly-documented production-scale humanoid robot deployment…

Track BMW Group
Founded
1916
HQ
Munich, Germany
Status
Public

Deployments

1

Patents

4

Overview

BMW Group is the global automotive manufacturer whose Spartanburg plant hosted the world's first publicly-documented production-scale humanoid robot deployment in automotive manufacturing. Headquartered in Munich and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, BMW operates a global production network across more than 30 sites in 15 countries, producing BMW, MINI, and Rolls-Royce vehicles. Following the completion of an 11-month Figure 02 pilot at Plant Spartanburg in November 2025, BMW formalized its physical-AI strategy through the establishment of the Center of Competence for Physical AI in Production, headquartered in Munich, and expanded humanoid deployments to Plant Leipzig in Germany with AEON robots from Hexagon robotics. Milan Nedeljković, the executive who led BMW's humanoid program from the Spartanburg pilot through the Leipzig expansion, became BMW Group's CEO effective May 14, 2026.

BMW's editorial significance is its phased multi-vendor humanoid evaluation strategy. The company has structured its physical-AI deployment as a deliberately staged path, theoretical assessment, laboratory testing, initial test deployment, full pilot, and has run completed pilots with two different humanoid vendors (Figure AI bipedal, Hexagon Robotics wheeled) across two continents (US and Germany). The leadership transition that brought the humanoid-program executive to the CEO role in May 2026 is a meaningful corporate signal: humanoid integration is now a CEO-level priority at one of the world's largest automotive manufacturers.

Verified record

Verified deployments
1 deployment on file
Active incidents
None on file

Key facts

Scale

30+ production sites in 15 countries; produces BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce brands

2025 production

millions of vehicles annually across the group

First humanoid deployment

January 2024 partnership announcement, August 2024 first trial, full deployment 2025, Figure 02 at Plant Spartanburg, South Carolina

Spartanburg pilot results (Nov 2025 completion)

11 months, 1,250 operating hours, 30,000+ BMW X3 supported, 90,000+ sheet-metal parts loaded, 84-second cycle time, 99+% placement accuracy

Second humanoid deployment

December 2025 initial test, April 2026 second test, summer 2026 full pilot, AEON (Hexagon Robotics) at Plant Leipzig, Germany; high-voltage battery assembly + component manufacturing

Institutional framework

Center of Competence for Physical AI in Production

Leadership signal

Milan Nedeljković, humanoid-program leader, became Group CEO May 14, 2026

Strategic intent

Multi-vendor humanoid evaluation; scaling across global production network as technology matures

Long-time technology partner for Leipzig pilot

Hexagon

Data & sources

Press releases

1

Patent documents

4

Web sources

9

14 sources backing this record.View all →

Partnerships

Every company BMW Group has built with, alongside the ones only announced in a press release.

7 total7 operating

Most-frequent partners

  1. 1AWS1× joint30 total
  2. 2Figure AI1× joint15 total
  3. 3Google1× joint19 total
  4. 4Hexagon Robotics1× joint5 total
  5. 5Hikrobot1× joint1 total
  6. 6NVIDIA1× joint132 total

Most recent

  1. Hikrobot x BMW Group2026-04-23
    with Hikrobotoperating
  2. Hexagon Robotics × BMW Group2025-12-01
    with Hexagon Roboticsoperating
  3. BMW x Figure (Spartanburg)2024-01-18
    with Figure AIoperating

BMW Group on the deployment map

View the global map

1 verified deployment across 1 region, newest verified Dec 2024. Explore where BMW Group's robots are operating, by place and type.

Free to use on your site, with a link back to DEPLOY.

View the full BMW Group deployment record →

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Relationships

AAWSTechnology partnerGGoogleTechnology partnerSSolid Power IncTechnology partnerNNVIDIATechnology partnerHHikrobotTechnology partnerHHexagon RoboticsManufacturerFFigure AITechnology partner

Explainers

Plain-language answers to the questions people ask about BMW Group, from DEPLOY’s explainer library. Each is written in the language of the question and cross-checked against this registry.

What is Figure 03?
Figure 03 is the third-generation humanoid robot from Figure AI, a US humanoid manufacturer based in Sunnyvale, California. The robot stands 173 cm (about 5'8"), weighs 61 kg, and is currently in active pilot deployment at a Catalyst Brands distribution logistics center. It is not available for consumer purchase as of mid-2026.Read the full explainer →
What does Figure's BMW Spartanburg humanoid deployment actually look like?
The Figure 02 humanoid robot has operated in production at BMW Group's Spartanburg, South Carolina plant since August 2024, contributing to the assembly of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles over an 11-month deployment that accumulated 1,250 hours of runtime handling more than 90,000 parts in chassis-assembly tasks. The deployment is the canonical commercial humanoid manufacturing reference for the cohort, with end-product OEM acceptance verification distinguishing it from peer humanoid deployments. BMW Group has announced expansion to its Plant Leipzig facility as the second humanoid production site. Figure's current-generation Figure 03 is deployed at Catalyst Brands Reno, not at BMW; BMW Spartanburg remains the Figure 02 deployment anchor as of mid-2026.Read the full explainer →
What is Figure's Catalyst Brands Reno humanoid deployment?
The Figure 03 humanoid is deployed at Catalyst Brands' Reno, Nevada distribution logistics center in a pilot operation that represents Figure AI's verified non-manufacturing deployment context. Catalyst Brands is the corporate parent of Forever 21, Brooks Brothers, Aeropostale, Lucky Brand, Nautica, and other retail brands under the SPARC Group restructuring. The Reno deployment is Figure's logistics-and-distribution operational reference, complementing the Figure 02 BMW Spartanburg manufacturing reference and demonstrating Figure's dual-vertical commercial strategy across two structurally distinct deployment contexts.Read the full explainer →
What is the Atlas deployment at Hyundai Metaplant America?
Boston Dynamics' Atlas humanoid is deployed at Hyundai Metaplant America's Savannah, Georgia EV manufacturing facility in a pilot operation that represents Atlas's verified enterprise customer relationship. The deployment is structurally distinguished by Hyundai's corporate-parent relationship with Boston Dynamics (Hyundai Motor Group acquired Boston Dynamics from SoftBank in 2021), creating a maker-customer relationship that differs from the arms-length customer relationships of cohort peers Figure-BMW, Apptronik-Mercedes, and Agility-GXO.Read the full explainer →
Which humanoid robot is most deployed?
UBTech's Walker S2 leads with roughly 13 verified customer sites (Foxconn, BYD, NIO, Geely, FAW-VW, Audi-FAW, Airbus Hamburg, TI Sherman, SF Express). Digit is second at ~10, Unitree G1 third. Optimus doesn't count: no site is outside Tesla.Read the full explainer →

Current leadership (1)

Founders (4)

See all founders across the registry →

Former / Previously (4)

Safety record

No incidents on record for BMW Group.

Only active incidents are counted. Retracted incidents are excluded from this summary but remain reachable at their canonical URLs.

Full safety record: incidents, sourcing, and exposure data →

Recent coverage

BMW Group in third-party press

Embotech and BMW move 1M vehicles with automated driving technology

Oct 27, 2026

EV, Battery & Charging News: WeaveGrid, Volkswagen, PACT, BMW Group, IONNA, Alpitronic, Rivian & Toyota

Oct 26, 2026

BMW begins making 6th-gen EV batteries in China with 20% higher energy density

Oct 16, 2026

Mentioned on (47)

Registry pages whose text names BMW Group.