FANUC Cuts Out Traditional Automation Suppliers by Entering Software-Defined Automation Race

FANUC is releasing its functional safety software Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) in 2027 following the late October announcement. Conforming to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 13849-1 Performance Level e (PL e) standards, it removes the necessity of a separate hardware-based functional safety PLC. Building on the 2025 release of its CODESYS-based software PLC, the expansion into functional safety for robotics deepens the existing partnership. It also threatens the functional safety hardware market, which has been relatively shielded from Software-Defined Automation (SDA) impacts. Now, major vendors with safety PLCs that have been deployed alongside FANUC robots, such as Siemens and Rockwell Automation, risk ceding further hardware ground.

Development and deployment of functional safety virtual PLCs (vPLCs) are limited because manufacturers still have limited trust in SDA generally, with even greater reluctance to move mission-critical and potentially dangerous equipment to a software-defined architecture. While functional safety has been achieved by two companies—Siemens and CODESYS and enabled within Bosch Rexroth’s SDA solution by way of CODESYS (see ABI Research’s Software-Defined Automation (SDA) competitive ranking (CA-1615) for full vendor profiles), for machine automation, robotics has been a lagging domain. Functional safety hardware within robotics will grow from US$3.8 billion in 2025 to US$6.9 billion in 2030 (at a 12.6% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)) (see ABI Research’s Robotics Functional Safety market data (MD-RFS-101) for more), making it an attractive market for software-defined disruption.

FANUC’s expansion of the functional safety vPLC into the domain of robotics through its integration with FANUC’s Dual Check Safety technology addresses the limitations of regular functional safety vPLCs within the robotics market, namely the lack of specialization for robotics controllers in environments where humans and robots interact. By opening this typically hardware-bound market, FANUC can reduce overall hardware costs and footprint, lower automation costs, and reduce reliance on traditional automation vendors to deploy robots in both safety and typical applications.

The robotics market is primarily dominated by systems integrators, which decide how systems are designed and what is not included within them. For these integrators, the announcement of FANUC’s functional safety vPLC forces deeper consideration of the digital maturity of customers deploying the systems to determine whether inclusion makes sense.

For robotics suppliers, the announcement details a critical aspect of SDA development and robotics deployment, increasing cost pressures internationally. Here, FANUC recognizes that not only does the robot itself become less expensive, but supporting technologies must also become more affordable and versatile to counter competition from Chinese robotics manufacturers.

Traditional automation suppliers such as Siemens, Rockwell Automation, and Mitsubishi Electric face the most direct threat from this announcement. All three represent the PLC hardware market, with safety PLCs deployed alongside robots, and now risk ceding this ground as PLC costs rise. Of these three, Siemens is the only one equipped to weather this storm with its SIMATIC S7-1500V (F) functional safety vPLC. Still, it is unclear how well it supports robotics safety automation and not just machine automation. These suppliers must either reduce the cost of their hardware solutions or begin developing and augmenting SDA solutions that can support the robotics market.

CODESYS is the big winner in this announcement, as it further cements itself as a fundamental piece of SDA infrastructure in both traditional discrete automation and robotics.