Toyota Will Use Humanoid Robots at its Canadian Plant
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) and Agility Robotics announced this week that they have signed a commercial agreement for the use of humanoid robots at the automaker’s Woodstock, Ont., assembly plant. The announcement comes as concerns about the job security of the nation’s autoworkers simmer.
Today’s announcement follows a successful pilot program that took place in 2025. Now, seven of Agility’s humanoid robot, known as Digit, will go into operation at Toyota’s plant — where the Toyota RAV4 is assembled — as part of a “robots-as-a-service” agreement.
TMMC “has long been a leader in automotive manufacturing innovation,” said Tim Hollander, TMMC president. “After evaluating a number of robots, we are excited to deploy Digit to improve the team member experience and further increase operational efficiency in our manufacturing facilities.”
The robots will be used to complete “extremely repetitive and physically taxing tasks” that are commonly found around the plant. Autonews reports that, as part of this agreement, the robots will load and unload totes from an automated tugger in the facility.
“With our next generation of Digit, we will be the first company to deliver the first cooperatively safe humanoid robot to work alongside people, allowing companies like Toyota to scale their use of humanoids well beyond what is possible today,” said Peggy Johnson, Agility Robotics CEO.
A number of automakers have shown an interest in humanoid robots, including Tesla, Hyundai, and Mercedes, among others. Auto manufacturers aren’t alone, though, and Agility already works with parts supplier Schaeffler and Amazon.
The last company hopes to use humanoid robots to cut its human workforce significantly. A leaked document found by the New York Times suggests that Amazon hopes robotics could lead it to automate 75 per cent of its operations, reducing its head count by hundreds of thousands by 2033. Amazon said those figures only reflected the views of one group within the company and is not reflective of its current hiring strategy.
In a release, Agility claimed that its robot would “help the employees working at” TMMC. However, analysts predict that in the long-term, robotics could be a major threat to automotive manufacturing jobs around the world, reports Autonews.
So far, the Canadian government’s reponse has been to launch the Canadian AI Compute Strategy, which “supports workers who are impacted by AI.”
Meanwhile, Unifor, the union that represents autoworkers at Ford, GM, and Stellantis (but not Toyota) says it is working to include robotics in its negotiations so that it can mitigate risks to workers.
