Financial Times: Toyota takes on Tesla and China in the humanoid robot race
From the Robots digest for Oct 25, 2026
What happened: The Financial Times frames Toyota as a contestant in the humanoid robot race against Tesla and China's makers, recalling how, inside Toyota Arena Tokyo in April, the automaker gave a glimpse of its robotics prowess — its AI-powered black-and-red humanoid (Financial Times), published October 25, 2026 US Eastern.
What's genuinely new: Top-tier-outlet competitive framing that places Toyota's humanoid program — previously known through the ¥1 trillion (~$6.4 billion) annual automation estimate and the 400,000-robot program target — explicitly into the same race as Tesla and the Chinese shipment-table leaders, anchored to a named April demonstration event rather than a product announcement.
Watch: the named humanoid model and any factory trial sites, whether the April demonstration footage is matched by independent verification outside the automaker's showing, and the humanoid share of Toyota's 400,000-robot program.
Sources Financial Times