Robots can get stuck in traffic, too.
Nissan learned that while deploying a fleet of AI-powered robots, called autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, at its sprawling factory in Smyrna, Tennessee.
At one point, the software dispatched two AMRs to the same place at the same time, creating a decidedly futuristic traffic jam. “Of course you wish everything works perfect, out of the box,” JS Bolton, Nissan’s senior director of manufacturing at the plant, told Business Insider. “But, it doesn’t.” Teams inside Nissan partnered with software providers and corrected the programming.
Now, the automaker says the robots can haul loads weighing thousands of pounds, recharge themselves, and call in another machine if one falls behind.
Nissan is completing the first of six deployment phases over the coming months at the plant where it assembles the Rogue, Pathfinder, Murano, and Infiniti QX60.
More vehicles are set to come to the factory next year, too.
Tim Slate, the plant’s director of body and stamping, said the project is Smyrna’s largest cost-reduction initiative this year. “This is the top thing on the list,” Slate said.
Nissan’s new AMRs are made by OTTO, a company owned by Rockwell Automation.
The same bots are found on Ford, GE, Hershey, and Caterpillar plants, too, according to Rockwell’s website.
Unlike automated carts that follow strips of magnetic tape on factory floors, AMRs use lidar, cameras, and other sensors to navigate around people and obstacles.
The largest OTTO model can carry roughly 4,190 pounds and travel at about 4.5 mph.
Nissan is using the machines inside Smyrna’s body shop, where metal components are welded together to form vehicle bodies.
Forklift operators still carry racks of components from truck docks to a deployment area.
An AMR then drives underneath a rack, raises its platform about 2.5 inches, and carries the components to a worker who loads them into a robotic production cell. “We really want our technicians to be focused on adding value to the vehicle,” Bolton said. “The customer doesn’t care how parts get to the assembly line.
What they care about is that it’s the highest quality on the assembly line.” The robots communicate with Nissan’s production equipment, allowing them to adjust deliveries in real time.
If a robotic cell stops working and no longer consumes parts, for example, an AMR can recognize that the station no longer needs a new delivery.
If one machine falls behind on a task — called a “mission” inside the plant — another can step in.
The robots themselves have been reliable, Slate said.
The harder task has been getting their software to communicate with Nissan’s material-flow system and the controllers operating its production equipment.
Employees for Powerhouse Controls, the automation systems integration supplier, have been working at the plant around the clock, sometimes seven days a week, as Nissan completes the rollout.
Forklift operators remain available to move parts whenever the automated system has a problem. “We can’t have downtime,” Slate said.
Once the rollout is complete, the machines will take over work currently performed by 64 forklift and tug operators.
The workers will stay at Nissan, but their current roles will disappear, the company says.
Nissan has opened opportunities for those workers to bid for openings elsewhere in the plant, including jobs more directly involved in building vehicles.
Some may receive training for positions involving industrial robots and other equipment. “These individuals, frankly, won’t have a role,” Slate said. “But they will still have a job here.” Nissan said it will not backfill its existing material-handling positions, allowing it to reduce overall labor costs.
Employees have had mixed reactions.
Slate said he notified workers on both shifts about four months before the transition and told them they could begin seeking other positions. “Initially, as you would imagine, it kind of didn’t go so well,” Slate said. “Initially, all they heard was, ‘Our job’s not going to be here.'” Some workers remain resistant to the change, he said.
Others have embraced it, including a longtime forklift operator who recently stopped Slate in the factory to excitedly share that he was moving to another shop.
The automaker says that many of the new positions are better suited for “upward mobility,” including, potentially, higher pay.
Nissan has previously told Business Insider that its factory technology isn’t intended to eliminate jobs.
Victor Taylor, Nissan’s divisional vice president of manufacturing for the Americas, said that the company wanted to automate “mundane tasks that are really antiquated for a human being to be performing.” Nissan is under pressure to lower costs as it works through a broader sales turnaround.
The company’s first-half 2026 sales were up 9.6% compared to the year before, when deliveries dropped by 6.5%.
In a separate interview, Chris Reed, Nissan’s regional senior vice president of research and development, told Business Insider the company is examining the total cost of producing a vehicle, including supply chain, warranty, development, and labor costs. “We’re pushing on everything at the same time,” Reed said, including “the number of minutes it takes to build the car.” Bolton said making Smyrna more efficient could help the US plant compete for additional vehicle production, particularly as automakers look to manufacture more cars closer to American buyers. “We want to be part of Nissan’s recovery,” Bolton said. “We see being cost competitive in Smyrna as our contribution to that.” Nissan is now studying whether AMRs or automated forklifts could handle components inside Smyrna’s stamping operation.
It is also considering bringing similar robots into general assembly, where workers install most of a vehicle’s parts, with potential projects beginning as soon as 2027.
The challenge will be deciding when the technology is sufficiently capable, affordable, and integrable enough to justify the investment. “Any year you don’t invest, you’re leaving savings on the table,” Bolton said. “At the same time, the capability is improving.”
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