--- title: "Xpeng CEO takes helm of robotics unit to drive physical AI transition" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/289277391.md" description: "Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng has personally taken over as head of the company's robotics division to accelerate the commercialization of its 'Iron' humanoid robots. This strategic move marks Xpeng's transition from a smart car manufacturer to a 'physical AI' company, leveraging automotive supply chain and manufacturing expertise. The company aims for mass production and initial delivery by Q4 2026, followed by retail deployment in early 2027 and broader market expansion thereafter." datetime: "2026-06-10T05:34:24.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/289277391.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/289277391.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/289277391.md) --- # Xpeng CEO takes helm of robotics unit to drive physical AI transition The Iron humanoid robot on display at Xpeng's Guangzhou headquarters in April 2026. Credit: CnEVPost > - Xpeng CEO said the move is a crucial step in the company's transition from a smart car company to a physical AI company. > - Xpeng will achieve mass production and initial delivery of its advanced humanoid robots in the fourth quarter of 2026. He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV), is tightening his grip on the company's emerging robotics business to accelerate its commercialization. In an internal letter to employees on Wednesday, he announced that he will personally serve as the "CEO" of the robotics business, effective immediately. He put CEO in quotation marks in the letter, likely because the business has not been spun off as an independent entity, according to the full text of the internal letter obtained by CnEVPost. Join us on Telegram or Google News The decision highlights Xpeng's sense of urgency to seize the initiative in the fiercely competitive embodied intelligence market, as the company attempts to replicate its success in carmaking. Mr. He said in the letter that Xpeng's robotics business is at a historic turning point, standing on the eve of mass production and commercialization. He noted that the current stage is comparable to eight years ago when Xpeng was about to launch its first vehicle, the G3 SUV (sport utility vehicle), with the entire team standing at the critical threshold of mass production and delivery. This business upgrade in senior management marks an important step in Xpeng's strategic transition from a smart car company to a "physical AI company," he said. Mr. He saw automobiles, robotics, and globalization as the three core growth curves in Xpeng Group's development blueprint for the next decade. To achieve this ambitious goal, Xpeng will unreservedly replicate the supply chain, manufacturing, and globalization capabilities accumulated in its automotive business into the robotics business. According to the company's latest plan, Xpeng will achieve mass production and initial delivery of its advanced humanoid robots in the fourth quarter of 2026. Subsequently, the company plans to introduce humanoid robots into its offline stores nationwide in the first quarter of 2027 to take on shopping guide duties. By the second quarter of 2027, these humanoid robots will be pushed to broader overseas markets, and ultimately begin to enter more ordinary households in 2028. Mr. He said in the internal letter that over the past year, he has spent at least one full day a week on the robotics business, engaging in in-depth thinking, discussions, and decision-making. He deeply feels the immense significance of this historic opportunity, while also clearly realizing the extreme difficulty of achieving ultimate success in the current fiercely competitive environment. The robotics business currently integrates multiple core business modules within the Xpeng Group, including hardware, large AI models, supply chain, precision manufacturing, and marketing. This high degree of complexity requires the company to engage in deeper overall collaboration during the critical battle of mass production, translating the group's advantages into strong combat effectiveness, he said. Mr. He's personal taking of the helm comes as the Xpeng robotics team experiences a key personnel change, adding a layer of complex background to the company's sprint toward mass production. Earlier this month, Shi Xiaoxin, the core product lead of Xpeng's robotics business, departed. He was a core founding member who built the Iron humanoid robot project from scratch. To support its mass production plan, Xpeng already initiated the construction of a humanoid robot mass production base covering about 110,000 square meters in the first quarter of this year. In addition, Xpeng delivered the first ET1 version robot prototype developed to automotive standards in January this year, completing the deep integration of engineering and manufacturing experience. At its Tech Day in November 2025, Xpeng's new-generation Iron humanoid robot made its debut with a natural and smooth catwalk, drawing widespread attention from the industry. The demonstration was so realistic that it sparked public skepticism about whether a real person was hidden inside the robot, forcing Mr. He to publicly display its internal structure. The new-generation Iron is equipped with an all-solid-state battery and three in-house developed Turing AI chips, achieving a total computing power of 2,250 TOPS, and is integrated with the second-generation VLA (Vision-Language-Action) large model. Musk on Xpeng's Iron humanoid robot: 'Tesla and China companies will dominate the market' "Other companies in the West are weak," Musk said. 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