BMW starts its first humanoid robot pilot in Europe, at Plant Leipzig
Hexagon Robotics' AEON, built in Zurich, works on battery module assembly and component production. It follows a 10-month US pilot.
BMW Group Plant Leipzig is running the carmaker’s first European pilot with a humanoid robot. BMW confirmed the project on 27 February 2026 (Automotive Manufacturing Solutions).
The robot
The robot is AEON, built by Hexagon Robotics, the physical AI division of Hexagon based in Zurich, Switzerland. Hexagon introduced AEON in June 2025. It has a human-like torso that can take different grippers, hands or scanning tools, and it rolls between work stations rather than walking (BMW Group).
In Leipzig it moves between battery module assembly and component production. BMW said further testing was scheduled for April, ahead of pilot operations in the summer.
What came before
The Leipzig pilot builds on BMW’s US plant in Spartanburg. There, a Figure 02 humanoid helped build more than 30,000 BMW X3s over ten months, working ten-hour shifts five days a week. It moved more than 90,000 sheet metal parts for welding and logged around 1,250 operating hours. BMW says the US pilot also led to “revised safety concepts with additional barriers and partitions” and better 5G coverage in the hall.
BMW has pooled the work in a new Centre of Competence for Physical AI in Production, which builds solutions its plants worldwide can reuse.
On the floor
- Safety first, again. The US pilot changed the safety layout. Expect Leipzig to do the same, and expect works councils to ask about it.
- Wheels, not legs. A rolling humanoid avoids some fall risks of a walking one, which matters in a busy hall.
- Ergonomics is the pitch. BMW frames humanoids as taking repetitive work and jobs in physically demanding positions, not as replacing teams.
Sources
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