Chinese automakers pile into humanoid robots, following Tesla's lead

The hype around humanoid robots isn’t new — credit Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s Optimus robot and the many videos of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot for that. But behind the hype, researchers believe the AI techniques behind large language models can make complex robots capable of learning nearly any task, and that progress has drawn a new batch of companies into the field, many of them Chinese automakers.

Earlier this week, Xpeng’s robotics unit raised more than $900 million at a post-money valuation of more than $6.3 billion, led by IDG Capital with participation from Gaorong Ventures, Tencent and Alibaba. The company described the round as the largest single-round private financing ever recorded in China’s “embodied AI” industry — AI systems built directly into physical machines. This month, AiMOGA, the robotics unit of China’s Chery Automobile, reportedly began preparing for an IPO, while BYD unveiled a humanoid robot called Xiao Di. Other Chinese automakers, including Changan, GAC, Li Auto, SAIC and Seres, are also developing humanoid robots.

Among them, Xpeng most closely watches and follows Tesla’s initiatives, according to Michael Dunne, CEO of advisory firm Dunne Insights. “It’s the most focused on autonomy, it’s the first to commit in a big way to humanoid robots,” Dunne told TechCrunch, noting that Xpeng founder He Xiaopeng sees “razor-thin profit in cars on the near horizon,” with robots looking more promising. Xiaopeng and Xpeng co-president Brian Gu are bullish enough to have personally invested about $100 million into the recent fundraising round, according to the Wall Street Journal. Xpeng’s robotics bet centers on Iron, a humanoid robot with a realistic human shape built for commercial deployment; Dunne said Chinese automakers bring a manufacturing edge but still need to prove they can match Tesla on the AI side.

Other automotive players are moving too. Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics plans to bring its Atlas humanoid robot to Hyundai’s Georgia factory this year and eventually deploy it for tasks like parts sequencing by 2028; Hyundai, which partnered with Google’s DeepMind to speed up Atlas’s development, is also opening a U.S. facility this year to teach robots movements like lifts and turns. Supplier Mobileye acquired humanoid robot startup Mentee Robotics earlier this year for $900 million, and Rivian is dabbling in robots through its Mind Robotics spinout, though its robots aren’t expected to be humanoid.

Why it matters

Chinese automakers’ manufacturing scale gives them a real shot at humanoid robot production, but the fight will hinge on whether they can close the AI gap that has so far defined Tesla’s lead.