← All cases
CS-07C· Press / analysisHumanoid
BMW Spartanburg: humanoids in the body shop
A multi-week 2024 test led, according to Figure, to about 1,250 runtime hours on the line; productivity and cost figures have not been published.
Last reviewed: 2026-11 · Methodology & sources →
Fact sheet
- Organization
- BMW Group, with Figure AI
- Sector
- Advanced manipulation
- Location
- Spartanburg plant (South Carolina, US)
- Environment
- Industrial plant
- Stage
- Ended
- First public deployment
- 2024
- Autonomy (editorial classification)
- L3 · Conditional autonomy
- Coordination (editorial classification)
- Standalone
Published payback
Not published
01The challenge
- Inserting sheet-metal parts into specific fixtures that are then assembled into the chassis.[BMW Group, 2024]
02The solution
- Hardware
- Figure 02 humanoid.[BMW Group, 2024]
- Perception
- Not published
- Navigation
- Not published
- Coordination
- Not published
03Published KPIs
Figures as communicated, with their context and source. “Not published” means no public figure exists — a gap to close in a pilot.
| KPI | Value | Context | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial test duration | Several weeks (2024) | — | [BMW Group, 2024] |
| Runtime hours10-hour shifts; figure reported by Figure | ≈ 1,250 h | 10-hour shifts; figure reported by Figure | [Interesting Engineering] |
| Vehicles supportedfigure reported by Figure | > 30,000 BMW X3 | figure reported by Figure | [Interesting Engineering] |
| Productivity or cost vs a worker | Not published | — | — |
What has been said publicly about returns
In 2025 Fortune contrasted Figure's founder's statements with the scope described by BMW and found differences.[Fortune, 2025]
04Lessons
Integration & operations
- Cross-check vendor figures against the customer's: here the press found the two accounts differed.[Fortune, 2025][Repairer Driven News, 2025]
Maintenance & limits
- The F.02 units were retired showing visible wear after roughly 11 months (sources disagree on 10 vs 11).[Interesting Engineering]
Scaling
- The F.02 fleet gave way to the next generation (Figure 03): hardware still turns over in short cycles.[Interesting Engineering]