XPeng's He Xiaopeng Says Robot Development Is 20 Times Harder Than Cars

XPeng chairman He Xiaopeng said developing robots is roughly 20 times harder than building cars, describing the task as “really very difficult.” In remarks reported by Sina Tech, he said XPeng’s robot hardware, software, design and supply chain are basically developed in-house. The executive’s assessment places robotics well beyond automotive manufacturing in engineering and production complexity.

He Xiaopeng said he had long been reluctant to present XPeng’s robot publicly, mainly because it was not ready for mass production. He noted that many robot capability demonstrations on the market are released after editing, which can make them look more advanced than they are in real operation. He suggested that such edited clips can mislead audiences about current robot abilities.

The journey from robot R&D to mass production has been “very painful, but also happy,” he said. XPeng is now beginning to mass-produce the robot, and He Xiaopeng expects its capabilities to make a leap in the fourth quarter and in the first and second quarters of next year. The timeline suggests XPeng expects gradual progress before a sharper capability jump next year.

His comments point to a broader challenge in embodied AI and robotics: impressive videos do not guarantee reliable, scalable products. Mass production, supply chain maturity and real-world software performance remain the hard tests that XPeng is trying to pass. For the industry, XPeng’s experience illustrates that building a robot is one thing, but making it manufacturable at scale is another.