Overview
- He Xiaopeng said Wednesday he will personally lead Xpeng’s robotics unit as the company aims to begin mass production of its IRON humanoid robots by the end of 2026.
- Xpeng plans to trial IRON robots in its retail stores and expects to start delivering units to commercial customers from 2027.
- The company has built a roughly 110,000 square meter production site in Guangzhou and describes supporting tech such as a VLA 2.0 vision-language-action model and multi-degree-of-freedom hardware as ready for scaling.
- The leadership change follows the resignation of senior robotics planner Shi Xiaoxin and comes after Xpeng reported a 17.6% year-on-year fall in first-quarter auto revenue, increasing investor focus on capital allocation.
- If Xpeng meets its timeline the robots could become a new revenue stream and intensify competition with other EV makers pursuing humanoids and robotaxis, but execution challenges, regulatory approval and customer acceptance remain major hurdles.