Electric-vehicle maker Xpeng, called the "Chinese Tesla," is establishing itself as an "AI mobility" corporations with vertical integration of its own chips and artificial intelligence (AI) models, Autonomous Driving vehicles, humanoids (human-shaped robots), and flying cars. Xpeng changed its name to "Xpeng AI Auto" last year and has been expanding its business lines. However, shortcomings in safety, regulations and certification, and insurance and liability systems are cited as barriers to commercialization.
According to China's financial media Cailianshe and Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 5th, Xpeng held "2025 AI Day" at its Guangzhou headquarters the day before and unveiled three types of robotaxis, one humanoid, and two flying cars. It also laid out plans to fully launch into the robotaxi, humanoid, and aviation industries, fronting its self-developed AI chip "Turing" and AI model "VLA 2.0."
First, Xpeng will start pilot robotaxi services in major Chinese cities next year. Robotaxis in China are currently operating only on a limited basis in Beijing, Shenzhen, and Wuhan. The robotaxi vehicles Xpeng will introduce come in three configurations—5-, 6-, and 7-seaters—and are equipped with four in-house Turing AI chips. For safety, computing, perception, braking, steering, battery, and communications are all duplicated, and information such as speed is displayed outside the vehicle through a display. They can be hailed on Alibaba's map app Amap.
According to CNBC in the United States, in addition to such "commercial Autonomous Driving shared vehicles," Xpeng is also targeting the buildout of personal Autonomous Driving vehicles that can be shared only among family members. Vice Chairman Gu Hongdi said, "Technology is advancing faster than we expected. With the advancement of AI and increased computing power, we are approaching the inflection point for the robotaxi industry."
At the event, the second-generation humanoid "IRON" was also unveiled. Compared with the previous model, its conversation, walking, and interaction capabilities have been advanced. The goal is to mass-produce 1,000 units next year. It is expected to be sold first for commercial sites rather than homes. The company is considering uses in service roles such as guidance and sales assistance, as well as in industrial settings such as facility patrols. Xpeng expressed confidence that it will sell more of this humanoid than cars in the future.
In low-altitude flight mobility, it unveiled the next-generation flying car "A868." The A868 seats six and reaches speeds of 360 kph. Its maximum flight range is 500 km. It is currently undergoing verification procedures.
Underlying these new mobility products is the self-developed AI model "VLA 2.0." In Xpeng's comparison of VLA 2.0 with Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) on the same route, Tesla's FSD required seven driver interventions over 54 minutes, while VLA 2.0 completed the drive in 49 minutes with only one driver intervention. The first customer for VLA 2.0 is the German automaker Volkswagen. Next year, two smart electric vehicles jointly developed by the two companies are also expected to be equipped with Xpeng's Turing chips.
CNBC in the United States assessed that Xpeng resembles Tesla in that it centers on physical AI, robots, and cars. Vice Chairman Gu said, "There are similarities with Tesla in physical AI, robots, and cars, but in fact we began developing earlier than Tesla in areas such as flying cars and humanoids."
However, city-by-city regulations and safety certifications, as well as insurance and liability systems, remain issues to resolve. According to CNBC, Xpeng has previously said that "robotaxis will ultimately become a global phenomenon, but it will take time because of regulations."