Humanoids Took My Job, But At Least They Don’t Take Lunch

Welcome to another In-Wheel Time podcast.

This is your place for all things automotive, the award-winning In-Wheel Time car talk show.

Just ahead, we're going to talk to you about recalls and I'm going to start off with our story

of the week. I think that you should listen before you do that. You talked about Foremaster and Ford

in September. I recently, I love them. They're great. They're fantastic. I don't know why I didn't

get them before. You know, it's so funny because that was the thing that just kind of hit on that.

And remember when they came out, we're going, well, what's the difference between going to

Walmart and this? Yeah. And then you get us out of those and you go, well, wait a minute, they actually

fit. Yeah. And the little plugs, the little secure devices, all that little scutching. And you

know, a little heavier. Yeah. Yeah. And having lived up north with all the snow and the slush and

all the ugly, nasty stuff that you get on your shoes and bring it into the car, these things,

they hold all that in and you get to the, sop it up or you can take it out. Yeah. Yeah. And

it's a great company, American company that make American stuff there.

Everything from dog bowls to, I know, cup holders. Actually, and I bought one of those

cell phone holders and I use that in my Corvette because the cup holder in the Corvette, I swear,

it's that deep, that deep. It holds nothing other than a quarter or two. And so it doesn't work.

It's worthless. Anyway, our story of the week from Automotive News. And I think that we all can

somehow, in a strange way, relate to this. Automotive manufacturing is on the brink of a

radical workforce transformation as the industry's race toward fully automated assembly lines

signals a fundamental redefinition of factory work. At least one automaker will achieve 100%

assembly automation by 2030, according to analysts at Gartner and Moorburg Research.

The shift represents more than operational efficiency. It marks an inflection point

where artificial intelligence, humanoid robotics and digital manufacturing converge

to eliminate nearly all human roles from the assembly process. Now, you worked on the assembly.

Yeah. I've known other people that have worked on the assembly line. And so all of this is about

to change. The implications extend far beyond the factory floor, reshaping everything from vehicle

design principles to workforce training pipelines to the economics of auto production. A U.S. or

Chinese automaker will likely be the first to create a 100% assembly automation line toward

the end of this decade, as several players in those markets are already setting up disruptive

manufacturing processes and reveal more of a focus on humanoid robots. Automakers such as Hyundai

and Mercedes-Benz have already taken steps to increase the use of humanoid robots. Marzy,

you paying attention over there? Yeah, it's not like somebody's putting somebody out of a job.

Well, listen up. Hyundai plans to deploy Boston Dynamics humanoid robots at its Georgia

manufacturing complex starting in 2028. That's less than two years ago. Yeah, right. The automaker

unveiled the strategy January 5th at the Consumer Electronics Technology Expo in Las Vegas. The

company aims for production scale deployment of humanoids in automotive manufacturing

and a scalable production system capable of producing 30,000 robots annually.

Oh my God. Can you imagine going to a Texans game is nothing but robots there? I don't see it.

Mercedes has launched a pilot project with humanoid robots that it says could begin working alongside

assembly workers by 2030. Alongside, yeah. Well, to start off with. Hey, R2D2, you want to go to

lunch? Yeah, there's that. About an oil break. Yeah. I don't see it. Okay. So you build the car

with robots. Everything's automated. Assembly line. You go down the line. Who's going to drive

that car off the line? Well, that's a thought. You can't do it. Well, Robbie, the robot will do it.

But my question is when something goes wrong, would you know it will? It will because I mean,

it's still a mechanical device and sooner or later, it's going to need some sort of

maintenance or attention or something's going to break or a part doesn't fit quite right.

And they cram that windshield in there anyway, and suddenly it shatters.

And then they move on to the next. Yeah. Yeah. Well, since this story was written, I read another

story with similar tendencies and the issue that they're currently dealing with dashboards.

Oh, because you got to fit them in the car and yeah. And so now what are they going to do with

the wiring harness that goes up to it? Well, for the most part, they're all plug and play. Yeah.

So get that robot to start plugging in, plug in all those dashboards in and make it all work

with because, you know, today with a human, you don't have to stretch the wire. The wire is cut

just exactly right to fit up to the plug with nothing left over. Right. Yeah. So that's what

they're currently dealing with, wiring harnesses, things like that, very intricate things. Or

here's the other one. And Mars, I think that you were on the tour with me. We went through forward.

We couldn't understand why the doors went off to another part of the complex,

because the doors are the most complicated of the automobile. And so they send them off to a

different area of the factory. To be put together. Yeah. They put all the innards of the door in

there and then they send the door back down the line to match up with the car that it was painted

with. Okay. So it's going to be robots assembling it. So the door is already going to be made

when that robot touches it. Well, there's going to be a human putting that glass in all the switches

and diodes at the beginning, and then they're going to say, okay, R2-D2, go ahead and put it on.

And then he goes and puts it in the trunk or whatever. Yeah. But there's movies to be made

about all that. If you think about it though, when you're assembling a car, like you say,

the dash, for example, those wires plug in underneath and for them to touch to talk is

the old idea that you don't have any extra slack because you're saving pennies. That means the

dash has got to be in place. Well, can the robot get up under there or are they going to have to

redesign how they put the parts together? Exactly. That's what I was thinking. Maybe the dash goes in

first. They're going to have to change the way they assemble the car. So let me finish the story.

Okay. Nevertheless, from an employee perspective, digital products and AI are making engineering

and manufacturing work more challenging according to Detlef Gerst, Javel, AI and digitization

expert on the executive board of IG Metall, Germany's largest trade union. Fast product

changeovers and a wide variety of variants require cooperation between AI technology

and well-qualified, flexible employees. In other words, you, Jeff Zeekin, that we're

tires on the car. Now you're going to have to go to school. A lot of school to learn how to

integrate this robot to that car because the other jobs that are plain and simple, they don't exist

anymore. Digital helpers are changing human tasks and skills thereby making further training and

personnel development crucial. Employees must be able to understand and assess digital technology.

In other words, they need a high degree of expertise as well as rising demand for skills

related to digital technologies, advanced manufacturing and the transition to electric

mobility. Workers will increasingly need the ability to adapt the change, learn throughout

their careers, solve problems, work in teams and operate safely in technology-rich environments

according to the International Labor Association. Okay. So you go into the factory and you say,

I'm going to hijack all the robots in here and they're going to go after all of the human,

all the humans in there. You're going to revolt. Do you see where the movie starts right there?

However, full automation of the assembly line need not necessarily lead to job losses. Those

employees will be reallocated to other support functions like maintenance, engineering, logistics

and material handling or inspection. Likewise, Labor Organization anticipates that some routine

and manual tasks may be reduced. Many jobs are likely to change in their content and new jobs

are expected to emerge. The emphasis is on the evolution and transformation of jobs within the

industry rather than a simple one-for-one replacement of existing roles. Jeff, you worked up there.

So wasn't that in a constant learning process? Every time a model changed, you had to kind

of learn, okay, this one's coming through and instead of bolting the black to the blue, I got

a bolt white to the red or something. Right. There's different models have different things

that go on. It seemed to me like it would be a constant state of change so that that learning

process would be ongoing and this might not be too much different. Well, the model change is a

model change overall for the vehicle, but putting a part on A car and then Y part on B car, that's

all part of the assembly process and you've got that segregated or categorized how you want to

put that on the vehicle. I had the striker plates for when you push the button in the glove box and

you push the button and the trunk went up. That was all fancy back then. Well, that device in

the trunk was as a cover and they call it the striker cover. I put three screws in that every

third job. So as the car came through, say like a Corvette Corvette comes through zip zip zip,

I put three screws in and I go sit down and then two jobs went by because somebody else was doing

those jobs. Somebody else at number two, somebody else at number three doing the same job, but you

didn't do every everyone that rolled through the assembly. So then you count one, two, three and

you get up and you do yours and you go sit down and as the cars go by. I don't think they do it that

way anymore. No, they don't do it that way anymore. I was young and I was getting paid a lot of money

because I was a factory worker, but now it's all automated now. So that striker cover I talked about

in the trunk is probably pre-made in that somehow before putting on that added piece. Yeah. Well,

it's something to think about. Your cars for your unions come in. Yeah, it's so expensive. And I think

that you're going to see that the price of cars will continue to rise because robots are not cheap,

but they are cheaper than paying insurance in the long run. Insurance, retraining somebody to

not only put the tires and wheels on, but now he's going to have to bolt up the transmission

to the engine or they're going to have to put the engine in. You get the point. Yeah. Prior to that,

my brother worked for the same Fisher body my dad got us in. My brother was part of a fire crew. He

would ride around in a golf cart with fire extinguishers and so he did all day. And if you

saw a fire, they put out a fire. They didn't have many fires, but that was just a job that they had.

Mars, there's something yet for us to do. This is back in the 70s again, guys. So

yeah, I remember once I had a job in a refinery that I was on the fire crew,

but they didn't have any no fires. If there were no drills, if somebody hollered, there was a fire.

Yeah, this is in. Everybody came running. Everybody went to the middle of the plant,

like idiots, you know. Well, anyway, it's something to think about. I would imagine that

the majority of cars are going to be built with robots. Yeah. Well, they already are to death.

They are like all of the welding stuff. Those those those bodies and the frames and all of the

parts and components that are underneath the car that you don't see. Those go into a metal cage

and you have all these robots doing all of those weld points, go to a tire plan. It's all automated.

It's all automated. It's our plan. They've got the, you know, the big arm robots that

they've got all that names, but a lot of that stuff to me is not as intricate as those

delicateness trying to put the wiring harness together or or mount the computer and plug it in

things like that. Let me tell you something. I am very good with the wiring harnesses.

And I sit back and I look at all those wires and I'm going,

you should have seen him this morning with a one eighth plug.

Where does it go? Where does it go? All the wires are black. There's no color code. What do I do?

It's on the call you, Mike. Yeah. And get the next guest on. Yeah. Call Mike. He'll figure it out.

Yeah. Thanks. Well, I thought that that was a pretty interesting story and it's only the beginning.

All this stuff being presented at the consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. Is it open to

the public? I don't know. I don't know. I don't think so. I think it's kind of like SEMA. It's

industry. Yeah. Anyway, uh, buddy. Yeah. I think you're right, Mike, because, uh, yeah, you have

to be a manufacturer. Like you said, like a SEMA thing, journalist, something, you know, something

in the industry. Yeah. It'd be nice to have a car, a hot rod car, a Randy Bortcharding high-end

rebuild, the Resto mod thing. Take that to CES. In addition to SEMA, then you're going to go over to

the consumer electronics show. What would be the point of taking the car to CES? Well, I mean, you

know, it would probably have some sort of fancy computer in it or, you know, engine management

or something. It was all paint. The whole car was painted in detail by a robot.

Or have it painted with the wiring harness painted in the paint on the outside of the car.

Don't they have, I don't know if it's one of the auto shows or somewhere I saw that there's

actually a clear car, a clear vehicle. All the parts are clear, even on the engine. I missed that.

Yeah. I would like to find it. Maybe it was a dream. I don't know. Maybe a display for somebody

or something. It could have been. Every day is a dream for me. He's living it. I'm living it. Hey,

just ahead. Jeff has the racing calendar. Mars has this week in auto history and I'll bring you

some of the stories making automotive use headlines this week. The end-world time car talk show

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Ours is free. You don't have to pay to get on ours. Yeah, you'll, you'll want to pay because

it's so good. All right, time now for Jeffrey's racing calendar sponsored by the Texas Muscle

Car Club Challenge. Guess what I got? I've got the racing schedule for everything. I've got Cup

coming up. Daytona 500. You're going to start February 1st for the Cookout Clash at Bowman

Gray Stadium. That's going to be February 1st. Then you got February 12th, the America 250

Florida Duel. And then February 15th is the actual 500 to 230 PM on Fox HBO and Fubu. Guess what

else I have? Fubu. I think it's Fubu. Fubu, Fubu, whatever. Fubu, whatever. And then I got

Xfinity. Same schedule, same track, just a different grouping. You got the Xfinity Boys

and then the trucks. So the trucks are going to go February 13th on the 26th. And then of course,

there's some eight years that are going back to truck. Tony Stewart's going to run a truck.

And there's also one of the craftsmen. One of the craftsmen, I can't think of his name. He's

retiring. Oh gosh, I can't think of his name. I've got the article somewhere. And of course,

I got NHRA. NHRA starts March 5th through the 8th to 57th annual NHRA Gator Nationals in Gainesville,

Raceway, Gainesville, Florida. You ever been to Gainesville? I've probably

through it when I was a kid. I don't remember. Ever been to the racetrack there? No. Oh my god.

It's in a swamp. Yeah. It's in a swamp. Two lane road that goes out into the swamp. And then all

of a sudden, boom, there's the racetrack. It's weird. Well, Don Garlets is weird. Always has been.

And he will confess to that. Yeah. F1 Cadillac obviously is going to be announcing their

livery during the Super Bowl. I actually saw a preview picture of it. It looks pretty good.

It's just a black car with a little logo on it. So they're going to, they're going to,

it's pretty cool. A lot of them are introducing this stuff. Two weeks is the testing for forming

up. Two more weeks. Two more weeks. It's like the patio. The patio took seven months, but it took

seven months, but every time we go, hey, how's it coming? Two more weeks. Seven months later,

they finally opened the outdoor patio. 13 foot hole in the ground and no concrete around.

Two more weeks. Two more weeks. All righty. Then Mr. Mars has this week in auto history.

Yes, sir. Found a few things this week that I thought. I didn't mean to catch you off guard.

He caught me off guard. Did I catch you off guard, Mike? Not me. I was kind of watching Jeff wait

and make sure he was ready. I'm hanging on with my thing. Okay. So this week in automotive history,

in 1896, the first automobile accident was reported. Now this is just basically the earliest one.

Of course, it was in New York when a motor car struck a bicyclist. It just started the whole

world as that we know now. Then in 1899, Fiat, everybody's favorite, is founded in Italy. Now

in Turin, Italy, it grew into one of Europe's most influential automakers because it produced

everything from tiny city cars to race winning machines. And of course, it ended up being bought

up through Stellantis, through Burgers, everything. And that's how we ended up with Fiat in America.

In 1904, and I did not know this, Henry Ford becomes president of the Ford Motor Company. I just

assumed he was president whenever he created it and started it. That picture was taken before

the dementia set in. If you look at the eyes, but anyway, so he had a vision for affordable

transportation, which focused on efficiency, durability and mass production. And of course,

that's what led to the moving assembly line and really where we are today with automobile

manufacturers. Mike, if you look, if you look at him and you move his eyes, follow you.

Look, go ahead. Step by step. Then in 1950, the first Corvette design concept was approved. Now,

this was kind of early in. I did not realize it took that long from the time they decided

they were going to do this. So they actually produced one. Of course, it was inspired by

European sports cars and it brought the American performance in. And let's not forget,

this is the first fiberglass car built in America too. And they had to try to perfect that. Have

you ever seen an actual, I saw a number two. Have you ever seen number two? Yeah, they're pretty

pretty rough. Yeah, they were all made by hand, weren't they? Actually, yes, they were. And the

fiberglass is all laid by hand. And you can actually see the fiberglass beneath the crappy

paint job fibers in the glass. Yeah, it's truly amazing. I've never knew, but that's the way it was.

Interesting. And they let it out the showroom for. Okay, in 1954, Hudson and Nash announced

merger plans. Now, this is, I think it's crazy. Hudson Motor Company, car company and the Nash

Kelvinator revealed their plans to merge, forming the American Motors Corporation.

Exactly. You know, I tried to do a thing on that, but it didn't work out anyway.

I've driven a refrigerator before. So AMC, the idea was that they were going to compete against

the Detroit's big three. And they did produce a lot of iconic motors like the Javelin. They even

actually produced the Jeep Cherokee originally. Then rolling over to 1966 Chevrolet reveals the

Camaro name. Now this is for the pony car. And this was designed to compete directly with the Ford

Mustang. And it was a small, they considered the Camaro a small, vicious animal that eats

Mustangs is the way they backed up this name for the naming process. Then in 1966. Wasn't the

original name of the Banshee of the Camaro? Oh, I didn't think so. Maybe then. I thought that

that was the Pontiac version. Okay. Banshee comes to mind. Somebody had a Banshee. Yeah.

That may have been an ex-wife or something. I don't know. Then in 1968, AMC introduced the Javelin.

Now this again was to compete in the pony car market against the Mustang and the Camaro by

this time. But they did find a lot of success in the Trans Am Racing series and among road

enthusiasts out on the road because it really had some nice performance and some really nice

look on it. That's a classic. Then in 1992, this started it, the Lexus SE Coupe

debuts at the Detroit Auto Show. Now this doesn't look like the new one, but the new one I think

is one of the most beautiful cars in America today. But you can see where it gets its heritage

of the lines on this car that built up to the newer one. It's just a beautiful car. Then in 2003,

the final Osmobile was built. Now what's interesting about this is they announced the new

Bravada SUV launch. They were going to start selling these SUVs. Two days later, they announced

they're going to kill Osmobile. Now it took them about four years to go through the shutdown process

as they killed different models each year instead of just shutting it all down at one time. And the

last one that was actually built, in fact, the last 500 has special plaques, say the final 500 on

them, but it was a Lero GLS 4 door vehicle that looked just like this one. And after it was produced

and they shut everything down, it ended up in a couple of museums. The museum shut down and they

auctioned it off to a dealer only auction. And that car is now in Florida at a dealership down

there somewhere in that part of the world. That's this week in automotive history. Thank you,

sir. A couple of stories making automotive news headlines this week, about a half a century

after creating the iconic slogan, baseball hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet. Chevy is again

wrapping itself in the American flag for the nation's 250th anniversary. The brand is rolling

out five special editions. It's calling the stars and steel collection models all built in the US

add stars, stripes and a 250 graphic along with red accents and select premium options that underscore

patriotism package will be available on certain trims of the Silverado 1500, Silverado HD,

Silverado EV and Colorado pickups. Chevy will also sell 250 stars and steel Corvettes,

which come in either Arctic white with a Santorini blue interior or black with an

adrenaline red interior. Take them away. He's called blood red in GM, moving its global headquarters

this week into a newly finished building in the heart of downtown Detroit.

The automakers offices with all of their 21st century conveniences pay deep homage to the

mid-century modern design of its global tech center campus in suburban Warren, Michigan,

which opened 70 years ago this May. GM's new headquarters on the side of the former J.L.

Hudson's department store. Do you remember that? Yep. I'm on work there. Corporates the timeless

elements of year Eero Saranen's technical campus through the use of clean lines, curves,

stone and ward warm wood tones. According to Rebecca Waldmeyer, who just graduated from the

verb department at GM's architecture and experience design center. Yeah. Well, they're

moving out of the Rensen. Rensen was done. Yeah. I was there multiple times,

tours and things. We said meetings there in the General Motors building. I actually went there

once in ATD. Yeah. They take us there for two weeks, twice a year. I still don't understand

why they did that. That downsizing, I guess. Well, yeah, it could be. Now that property was

actually purchased from Ford Motor Company to build the Rensen for General Motors. Well,

didn't build it for General Motors, but they built it. But the property did belong to Ford

one company. I did not know that. Interesting. All right. You can take a monorail to the ball game,

back to the hotel, back to the Rensen. Well, is this new GM center on Woodward Avenue?

I don't know. I don't know for sure. Warren, the Warren Tech Center that has been there forever,

like you said, but I'm not sure where they're, where it's at. Okay. Just thought I'd question you.

Of course, you haven't lived there in 50 years. Yeah, about that. Yeah. Okay.

Well, we'd love to hear from you. Shoot us an email. If you'd love to talk to us, we'd love

to hear you. The address is info at inwheeltime.com. Time now for a break on the In Wheel Time

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Humanoids Took My Job, But At Least They Don’t Take Lunch

About this episode

Chevrolet Corvette

fully automated assembly lines

Mercedes-Benz

Hyundai

Boston Dynamics

wiring harness

automobile door assembly

striker cover

restomod

engine management

Daytona 500

Fiat

Stellantis

fiberglass car

Javelin

American Motors Corporation (Amc) Javelin

Jeep Cherokee

Chevrolet Camaro

Ford Mustang

Lexus SC Coupe

Oldsmobile Bravada

Oldsmobile Lero GLS

Chevrolet Chevy

Chevrolet Silverado

Chevrolet Silverado EV

Gulf Coast Auto Shield

ceramic coating

paint protection film

radar detector

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