Agility Robotics Lands Toyota as Commercial Partner, Aiming at Automotive Production

Agility Robotics has secured a major foothold in the automotive sector, announcing a commercial agreement today with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC). The deal will see Agility’s bipedal robot, Digit, deployed across Toyota’s production, supply chain, and logistics operations in Ontario.

The partnership follows a successful pilot program and represents a significant expansion for Agility beyond the third-party logistics (3PL) and retail sectors. TMMC, which operates Toyota’s largest manufacturing footprint outside of Japan, plans to use Digit to automate "extremely repetitive and physically taxing tasks" common to automotive assembly lines.

Scaling Beyond the Warehouse

For Agility Robotics, the Toyota deal is the latest in a series of high-profile commercial wins. The company has already established a presence in logistics through partnerships with Amazon and GXO Logistics, and more recently, an expansion into Latin American markets via Mercado Libre.

While Agility's fleet has primarily focused on "boring" tasks like moving 100,000 totes in logistics hubs, the TMMC agreement signals an intent to tackle more varied manufacturing workflows. "The goal is straightforward: give team members more capacity for the work that actually requires them," Agility stated in a post on X.

Safety as a Commercial Wedge

A critical component of this deal appears to be Agility’s recent focus on industrial compliance. Last year, the company secured an OSHA-recognized safety approval, a certification that has become a "license to operate" for multinationals like Toyota.

Agility CEO Peggy Johnson highlighted this competitive advantage, noting that the company is working toward delivering "the first cooperatively safe humanoid robot to work alongside people." This aligns with the long-term vision shared by co-founder Jonathan Hurst, who has advocated for a 25-year timeline for human-robot coexistence, prioritizing industrial safety and reliability over flashier, acrobatic demonstrations.

Automotive Integration and Agility Arc

The deployment will be managed via Agility Arc, the company's cloud-based automation platform. This system allows for fleet management and integration with existing warehouse and manufacturing execution systems.

In the automotive context, Digit's ability to work alongside Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) will likely be a key factor in bridging automation gaps—specifically handling the "last meter" of material handling that traditional, fixed-base industrial arms cannot reach.

A Contrasting Strategy

The announcement also serves as a data point in the ongoing philosophical rift within the humanoid industry. While competitors like Figure AI have focused on "autonomy-first" approaches—a strategy that sparked a public feud on X between the two companies last year—Agility continues to double down on "reliability-first" industrial specialization.

By adding one of the world's premier automotive manufacturers to its client roster, Agility is attempting to prove that its "boring" consistency is the fastest route to commercial viability. As the industry moves further into 2026, the focus has shifted definitively from laboratory demos to the rigorous, multi-cycle demands of the production floor.