In Canton, Mississippi, where Nissan assembles the Altima sedan and the Frontier pickup, there are cameras watching how workers move.
The automaker says the AI-powered system is saving it millions of dollars — and ensuring that factory workers stay healthy.
“We’re not talking about job elimination,” Victor Taylor, Nissan’s divisional vice president of manufacturing for the Americas, told Business Insider. “What we’re referring to are mundane tasks that are really antiquated for a human being to be performing.”
Nissan is the latest in a string of automobile companies highlighting how AI is changing the way Americans build cars, including improvements in initial quality and shorter development times.
But it is among the few willing to talk openly about how AI is watching its workers.
AI that fixes how workers bend and twist
Chi Amaechi, a Nissan process engineer and former safety engineer who worked on the system’s implementation, said the Canton assembly plant has what it calls a “golden cycle” for each job.
The golden cycle represents the standard way a task should be performed, including the sequence for installing vehicle components, the time it should take, and body movements designed to reduce repetitive strain.
“What it does is it monitors body angles proactively,” she said while showing Business Insider a virtual demonstration. “It’s basically identifying your joints, so it can identify when a person is bending in a position that’s beyond the safety requirement.”
The system can detect when an employee bends too far or holds an unsafe position for too long, then flag the potential risk for factory managers. Supervisors and engineers can use that information to coach workers, reallocate tasks, or redesign a workstation.
Amaechi said the technology replaces time-consuming manual observations that can be inconsistent because employees may change their behavior when they know someone is watching.
According to Taylor, Nissan initially evaluated the technology to improve manufacturing efficiency and help train new workers. The ergonomic benefits emerged later.
“We weren’t originally looking for that,” he said of the safety applications. “It just kind of shown itself as, this is the biggest win.”
The technology has also become part of Nissan’s response to an aging workforce, Taylor said.
“We have employees that have been in the plant 20, 30-some odd years, and they want to retire,” he added. “You can’t replace 20, 30 years of know-how.”
Taylor said employees were involved early through plant safety committees. He and Amaechi said workers initially worried that the technology could threaten jobs, but became more receptive when Nissan presented it as a safety and training tool. They also described instances in which workers welcomed changes made using the system.
Overall, Taylor said the technology has contributed to about $34 million in safety and health-related savings at Canton.
The system is deployed only in Canton. Taylor said Nissan plans to complete its rollout there before expanding it to the company’s Smyrna, Tennessee, assembly plant and evaluating applications at its powertrain facilities.
A big turnaround
Nissan has had a rough few years, but it is showing early signs of a turnaround.
The automaker replaced Makoto Uchida with Ivan Espinosa as CEO in April 2025, shortly after Nissan and Honda abandoned merger talks. Espinosa subsequently introduced a recovery plan centered on cutting jobs, reducing manufacturing capacity, and streamlining Nissan’s operations.
Canton’s assembly line has been affected by some of those cuts: In May, the company canceled its $500 million plan to manufacture electric vehicles at the plant.
On Monday, Nissan reported its first quarterly net profit in two years, helped by cost reductions and stronger sales in the US and Japan. The automaker said its US sales rose nearly 10% during the quarter and called itself the fastest-growing mainstream brand over the previous 10 months.
The company calls itself America’s “fastest-growing mainstream” car brand, per sales.
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