Figure AI's Helix VLA Model Completes 200-Hour Fault-Free Run on BMW's Spartanburg Line

Figure AI's Helix vision-language-action model has completed a 200-hour fault-free continuous run on a BMW Group production line at the Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, the company confirmed on Wednesday. The run — the equivalent of more than a month of two-shift production — is the longest published autonomous-run milestone for a humanoid robot in a true automotive environment.

What the Robot Did

During the run, a single Figure 02 humanoid equipped with the Helix VLA model executed a defined set of body-shop tasks: loading sheet-metal blanks, operating fixture clamps, and inspecting weld integrity. The robot worked alongside human colleagues for the entire 200 hours and was supervised remotely only for safety, not for task-level decisions.

「200 hours without intervention is not a marketing metric. It is a signal that the model can be trusted with a paid production role,」 said Figure CEO Brett Adcock in a call with reporters. 「We are now talking to BMW about a Q1 2027 transition from pilot to full production.」

Why It Matters

The body shop is widely considered the hardest automotive environment for a humanoid robot. Fixtures are unforgiving, tolerances are tight, and cycle times are measured in seconds. A model that can hold a 200-hour run in that environment is plausibly transferable to other body shops and to other industries with similar structured-but-noisy conditions. The result also validates the VLA approach that Figure has been pushing since the Helix release last year, and that competitors including Tesla's Optimus team and Apptronik have adopted in modified form.

What's Next

BMW says it expects to add four more Figure 02 units to the Spartanburg line by the end of 2026, with a full production transition targeted for Q1 2027. The two companies have not disclosed the commercial terms, but multiple sources familiar with the deal say the per-unit rate is now below the $100,000-per-year figure that has been used in earlier humanoid-robot business cases.