The hype around humanoid robots is not particularly new. Thanks to Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his Optimus robot, as well as the countless videos of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot, for that.
However, behind that hype is real progress. The physical capabilities of robots continue to improve and researchers now believe that artificial intelligence techniques behind large language models can make complex robots capable of learning almost any task.
Those tailwinds have encouraged a new group of companies to take advantage of the profit promise of humanoid robots. And many of the latest entrants are Chinese automakers.
Earlier this week, Xpeng’s robotics unit raised more than 900 million dollars at a post-money valuation of more than $6.3 billion. The round, led by IDG Capital with participation from Gaorong Ventures, Tencent and Alibaba, was described by the company as the largest single-round private financing ever in China’s “embedded AI” industry (AI systems integrated directly into physical machines).
This month, AiMOGA, the robotics unit of China’s Chery Automobile, reportedly started preparing for an IPOwhile BYD presented a humanoid robot called Xiao Di. Other Chinese automakers, including Changan, GAC, Li Auto, SAIC and Seres, are also developing humanoid robots.
Among all of them,
“It’s the most focused on autonomy, it’s the first to heavily commit to humanoid robots,” Dunne told TechCrunch, adding that Xpeng founder He Xiaopeng is a tech billionaire known for his agility and quick adjustments. “He sees minimal gains in cars on the near horizon. Robots look much more promising.”
Xiaopeng and Xpeng co-president Brian Gu are optimistic enough to have put their own funds behind the robotics unit. According to the Wall Street JournalThe couple invested around $100 million in the recent fundraising round.
Xpeng’s bet is on Iron, a humanoid robot with a realistic human shape built for commercial deployment.
Chinese automakers like Xpeng bring a manufacturing advantage.
“They have all the hardware to get the job done,” Dunne said. “The question is whether they can catch up to Tesla on the AI side of the equation.”
Of course, there are many other companies developing humanoid robots, including Agility Robotics, Apptronikand Figure, all pursuing the same goal: commercial implementation at scale.
Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics is getting closer to that goal. Hyundai plans to bring Boston Dynamics’ Atlas humanoid robot to its Georgia factory this year and eventually deploy the robots for tasks such as parts sequencing by 2028. The Korean automaker, which partnered with Google’s artificial intelligence research lab, DeepMind, to accelerate Atlas developmentis opening a facility in the US this year called the Robot Metaplant Application Center, which will teach robots how to map movements such as lifts and turns.
Other automotive companies are also making the leap, including supplier Mobileye, which acquired Humanoid robot startup Mentee Robotics earlier this year for $900 million. Even Rivian is getting into robots with its Mind Robotics Spinout – although their robots are I am not expected to look quite similar to developing humanoids elsewhere.
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