Mitsubishi Motors has signed a memorandum of understanding with Highlanders, a University of Tokyo robotics startup, to jointly develop humanoid robots for its manufacturing operations and explore mass production at the Kyoto Plant from early 2027. The agreement is the first between an automaker and a humanoid robotics developer to encompass mass production.

Japan’s manufacturing sector faces growing pressure from labour shortages and increasingly complex production demands, making flexible automated systems a rising priority for the industry. The partnership addresses both: Mitsubishi Motors will deploy Highlanders robots at its own facilities to build operational expertise, while Highlanders gains a credible route to scaled production through Mitsubishi Motors’ established capabilities in mass-production engineering, quality assurance, and mechatronics control. Currently unused buildings at the Kyoto Plant are being assessed for the production programme. Mitsubishi Motors has already invested in Highlanders and expects to invest further.

In a statement, Takao Kato, chairman of the board, representative executive officer and Chief Executive of Mitsubishi Motors, said:

“Our collaboration with Highlanders represents a challenge aimed at building a new industrial foundation in which humans and robots work together. At the same time, it provides Mitsubishi Motors with a valuable opportunity to deepen our technological and business expertise in the field of humanoid robotics. By utilizing humanoid robots in our own manufacturing facilities and supporting the production of Highlanders products, we aim to leverage the outcomes of this collaboration to drive our growth and enhance corporate value.”

Why this matters:

• An OEM manufacturing humanoid robots for a startup is a novel use of idle automotive capacity.Mitsubishi Motors’ Kyoto Plant has unused buildings that could begin producing Highlanders robots as early as 2027—turning a stranded asset into a new revenue stream while giving a University of Tokyo startup the mass-production infrastructure it could not otherwise access.
• Deploying the robots internally before selling them externally is sound validation logic.Using Mitsubishi’s own production lines as the first test environment generates operational data and real-world refinement in conditions that matter to the eventual customer base—other manufacturers facing the same labour shortage pressures that are driving this partnership in the first place.