He Xiaopeng takes on the role of CEO for the robotics business, pushing for mass production by the end of the year.

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On June 10, Xiaopeng Group Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng announced to all employees via an internal letter that, effective immediately, he will personally serve as CEO of the robotics business.

In the letter, He Xiaopeng likened the current commercialization milestone of the IRON humanoid robot to the eve of the launch of Xiaopeng’s first mass-produced vehicle, the G3, eight years ago. This personnel and business structure change means Xiaopeng is officially elevating the strategic priority of the humanoid robot business to the highest group level, on par with its main automotive business.

For the Group’s top position to directly lead the innovative hardware business line, the core demand usually points to urgent cross-department resource allocation.

Combined with information disclosed in the internal letter, Xiaopeng's robotics business has now integrated all chain modules within the group, including hardware, AI large models, supply chain, and precision manufacturing.

Moving from cutting-edge R&D to mass production delivery means the business focus must shift from simply technological breakthroughs to comprehensive cost control, supply chain reshaping, and manufacturing yield improvement.

He Xiaopeng’s personal takeover aims to break down departmental barriers and extend Xiaopeng’s accumulated supply chain bargaining power, quality control standards, and software-hardware collaboration experience in automotive manufacturing directly into the robotics segment.

In the deep waters of mass production, individual business line leaders are often unable to leverage the group's foundational assets. Concentrated leadership from the top is a necessary measure to drive down costs and enable large-scale implementation of complex hardware.

The internal letter positions this move as a key step in Xiaopeng’s transformation from an intelligent automotive company to a physical AI company. From an industry logic perspective, this is not reckless cross-border expansion but the inevitable reuse of technology.

Over the past few years, Xiaopeng has committed significant sunk costs to end-to-end autonomous driving large models. The embodied intelligence and vision-language-action models relied on by humanoid robots are highly homologous to advanced autonomous driving, especially in environmental perception and control algorithms.

Xiaopeng aims to extend its intelligent driving algorithm capabilities from “four-wheeled mobility devices” to “universal humanoid terminals” through the IRON robot. The internal letter highlights “local natural language communication, autonomous thinking,” and abandoning cloud dependence—which essentially externalizes its edge computing platform and generalization capabilities of algorithms to an extreme.

Notably, the “G3 moment” mentioned in He Xiaopeng’s letter signifies not only the approach of mass production but also the inherent risks of crossing the hardware life-or-death line.

The 2018 delivery of the G3 marked the starting point for Xiaopeng’s closed loop from zero to one in carmaking. In 2026, while the humanoid robot sector is hotter than ever, the industry has yet to see a true benchmark for scalable, profitable commercialization.

From a fundamentals perspective, Xiaopeng’s main automotive business is in a crucial period of structural adjustment and market share competition.

To broaden its customer base and improve profit structure, Xiaopeng has now broken its previous pure-electric-only path and is fully investing in range-extended models to achieve more stable market shares and operating cash flow.

While the main business still requires continued investment to win the “elimination race” of the car market, large-scale production of humanoid robots, which demands both capital and intensive technology, imposes strict tests on Xiaopeng Group’s overall capital efficiency, supply chain resilience, and He Xiaopeng’s personal allocation of attention.

He Xiaopeng serving concurrently as robot CEO is a phased confirmation of internal R&D progress and a clear external strategic restructuring; Xiaopeng intends to tell a new industry story with physical AI.

But as with the near-death experience of the initial carmaking period, from concept on the stage to genuinely practical and durable mass production tools, IRON must undergo a real test of BOM cost and commercial scenario validation.

The vision is grand, but industry standards are still harsh. Its success or failure will depend on the real production capacity of the upcoming self-built mass production factory and the actual performance of the first batch of robots in Xiaopeng stores.

The following is the original employee letter:

Let dreams become mass-produced reality, and together embrace a new decade of physical AI!

Dear colleagues:

Today I officially announce to everyone that, from now on, in addition to serving as Xiaopeng Group CEO, I will personally concurrently hold the position of “CEO” of the robotics business. The reason for making this decision is because we are standing at a historic turning point—Xiaopeng Robotics is officially approaching the eve of mass production and commercialization.

This is not a simple business upgrade, but an important step in Xiaopeng Group’s transition from an “intelligent automotive company” to a “physical AI company.” The robotics team has gone through several years of technical accumulation and breakthroughs, producing excellent outcomes and contributions. The R&D phase has achieved remarkable success. Over the past three years, with an extreme pursuit of technology, you all have turned IRON from a concept into a product that can walk, run, interact, and work. With the rigorous attitude we use to build cars, we have insisted on full-stack in-house development for robots, overcoming numerous challenges from chips to joints, from the overall machine to dexterous hands, from cerebellum iterations to brain development. Warm applause for everyone’s efforts and achievements! Now, we are getting closer to realizing the world's first large-scale mass production of advanced humanoid robots. This phase is equivalent to eight years ago—Xiaopeng Automotive was about to launch its first car, the G3, standing at the threshold of mass production and delivery. Today, technology continues, the requirements are higher, and the stage is bigger.

1. In the past year, the company and I have invested more resources and time in the robotics business. I basically spend a full day each week deeply thinking, discussing, and making decisions about the robotics business and team, and I frequently communicate with related teams and numerous partners. Our robot direction is distinctly different from many other manufacturers, with clear differentiation. During this process, I personally have felt the immense significance, historic opportunity, and difficulty of success in this endeavor.

2. Since the first public reveal of the robotics business last year, we have been extremely low-profile, not marketing, staying humble and focused on R&D. We have now made tremendous breakthroughs and progress. Xiaopeng’s robotics business is already on the eve of mass production, ahead of the industry. At the same time, the industry is getting hotter and more competitive. We have a clear view of the direction and timing of victory, but landing it still requires harder effort and extremely high strategic judgment.

3. The robotics business has now integrated Xiaopeng Group’s internal comprehensive capabilities, including hardware, AI large models, supply chain, precision manufacturing, marketing, sales, and other modules. The complexity is high. At the critical moment of mass production and commercialization, it requires more effective mobilization of these resources, stronger and deeper overall collaboration, to consolidate Xiaopeng Group’s advantages and form a strong fist. This is an integration of Xiaopeng’s many years of soft and hard collaborative experience—we have great advantages and combat power. Let's win this decisive battle together.

4. Facing the era of physical AI, Xiaopeng, represented by robots and embodied intelligence, possesses huge opportunities and development possibilities. It is difficult enough, interesting enough, and with a high enough threshold. I hope going forward, it achieves more possibilities and greater development.

My all-out effort with the robotics team, and with more new colleagues, is to send the clearest signal to everyone: more focus and resources will go into the robotics business. All resources across the group will be mobilized, with supply chain, manufacturing, quality, and globalization capabilities from the automotive business fully transferred and replicated to the robotics business. With the fastest speed and highest quality, we aim to deliver IRON to customers.

Colleagues, we are making history. The robots we aim to build are very different from those currently in the industry:

1. We want to build the most humanoid robots—our partners—so they can enter our work and lives, rather than simple and powerful machines;

2. We want to build robots that can communicate and think with local natural language, rather than those controlled locally with remotes, but whose capabilities reside on the cloud;

3. We want to build the safest robots, fully covered, with lightweight movements, supporting SEP and data privacy protection, rather than robots that keep a distance of one meter from humans;

4. We want to be first to mass produce high-end robots at scale; full-stack R&D + cross-domain integration is a must; we must build large data centers and mass production factories ourselves;

Colleagues, the next few months will be the hardest and most critical sprint period. We must solve every detailed issue in mass production, refine every function, and ensure that what we deliver to users is a truly usable, user-friendly, and durable product.

When the first IRON robot enters Xiaopeng dealerships, when it truly starts to change people’s ways of life, we will be incredibly proud of today. Let’s fight together and make our dreams a reality through mass production, embrace a new decade of physical AI!

He Xiaopeng

June 10, 2026

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