XPENG

XPENG has switched on what it calls the world's first automated production line for advanced general-purpose humanoid robots , with the first IRON unit walking off the line under its own power at the company's Guangzhou facility. The launch matters because it moves IRON out of the demo-video phase and into a real manufacturing setup, at a moment when several Western competitors are still working through delays on comparable humanoid programs. The line is aimed at founders, operators, and investors tracking who can actually build these machines at volume rather than just show them on stage. The robot itself is a bipedal humanoid roughly the size of an adult person, built around XPENG's in-house Turing AI chips and the same perception and control stack the company has developed for its vehicles. XPeng plans to officially launch Iron and begin deliveries in China and overseas markets in 2027 , with earlier deployments going into commercial service roles inside XPENG's own retail stores and campuses before broader release. More than 80 percent of core prod uction processes on the new line are automated, which is the basis for the company's pitch that robots are now assembling robots. The launch is led by Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng, who founded XPENG as an EV maker and has spent the last several years pushing it into what he describes as a Physical AI company spanning cars, flying vehicles, and humanoids. In his remarks he framed IRON as a general-purpose machine intended to take on jobs people find dangerous or undesirable, and eventually to function as a companion in the home, positioning this production milestone as a step toward that longer horizon rather than a finished consumer product.