JapanToyota estimates that automating production across its network could need about 400,000 robots and cost around 1 trillion yen a year from 2028, about $6.4 billion. Reuters reported the figures on 18 September after Toyota discussed them with investors.
It is an estimate. Toyota has not confirmed that it will spend the full amount each year and has not said how long the programme would run.
What the estimate covers
The scope is wider than Toyota’s own plants. It includes group companies and key suppliers, so the 400,000 robots are a figure for a whole production network rather than for one factory. They would be a mix of humanoid and conventional industrial robots.
The spending is split between replacing existing equipment and installing additional systems. It also includes automated handling of parts inside plants and further work on people and robots working side by side.
Why now
Toyota points to two pressures: production equipment that is ageing, and a shortage of workers. Coverage of the investor briefing says most of the money would go to conventional industrial machinery that replaces old lines, not to humanoid robots.
No plant-by-plant plan or supplier requirements have been published, so how the 400,000 would be distributed is not known.
