After a sleepless night, He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng Inc., made a decision that could be described as drastic.

Fourteen hours earlier, a robot with graceful movements and a swaying gait had taken center stage at a product launch. But He Xiaopeng never expected that those few steps would trigger a tsunami of online skepticism: "There must be a real person inside."

His response was radical—some might even call it extreme. At the next day’s event, he instructed staff to cut open the clothing and synthetic muscle skin on the legs of the IRON robot. The intricate mechanical skeleton, wiring, and actuators were laid bare for all to see. Attendees noted that He Xiaopeng’s voice seemed to waver as he directed the dissection.

Some later likened the scene to: "Slitting open one’s stomach just to prove how many bowls of noodles were eaten."

Yet, in the complex world of automotive tech, such skepticism isn’t entirely surprising. The innovations XPeng showcased at its Tech Day spanned from the skies to the ground, far exceeding the scope of a traditional automaker. It now resembles a physics-driven AI pioneer exploring the future of human mobility. And on this path, isolation and doubt are almost inevitable.

Years ago, Elon Musk appeared on *60 Minutes*. The entrepreneur, often compared to "Iron Man," broke down recalling Tesla’s early struggles and SpaceX’s turbulent beginnings: "You have no idea how hard it was."

This year marks XPeng’s 11th anniversary. Three years ago, the company was teetering on the edge—employee attrition, low morale, and annual sales of just 120,000 units. But last month, it delivered a record 42,000 EVs. In the first ten months of this year, XPeng sold 350,000 vehicles, becoming the first among China’s EV startups to: Hit its annual sales target ahead of schedule.

Now, He Xiaopeng is finally ready to unveil the five-year vision he’s been quietly building. Like Musk, He is not content with merely running a car company. Selling vehicles was never the end goal—just one of the means to an end. But realizing his dream means enduring countless skeptics, mockery, and near-hopeless lows.

Yet this man from Hubei chose to walk into the abyss anyway.

### 1 The latest-generation IRON robot’s catwalk debut was a highlight of XPeng’s Tech Day. As usual, He Xiaopeng showcased the year’s most groundbreaking tech and boldest predictions. In 2019, he forecast the commercialization of highway autonomous driving; in 2020, he predicted nationwide adoption. By 2021 and 2022, XPeng had announced plans for flying cars and robots; in 2024, it introduced next-gen super-range extension tech.

This year’s theme was "Emergence." IRON was just one of many cutting-edge products unveiled. The mobility ecosystem also included a Robotaxi set for mass production within a year and the A868 eVTOL aircraft. But the most significant "emergence" was: The second-generation VLA model.

VLA stands for Vision, Language, and Action. Originally developed for robotics, this framework was ingeniously adapted by He Xiaopeng for autonomous driving. In the future, it could power cars, robots, and flying vehicles alike.

Yet earlier this year, XPeng’s autonomous driving team nearly skipped a progress review meeting. At the time, the VLA model’s development was stagnant, with little to report—while monthly training costs burned through nine figures. Facing staggering expenses, He Xiaopeng pressed on. Over a year and ¥2 billion later, there was still no breakthrough. The fate of the entire VLA team hung in the balance.

Then, on the eve of the review meeting, the model miraculously "clicked." The team dubbed it: "AI emergence."

Like a martial artist unlocking hidden potential, VLA achieved a leap in capability. Previously unsolvable edge cases in autonomous driving began yielding to its logic. Simply put, compared to standard VLA models from Google DeepMind, XPeng’s version is like: Adding a royal title to an already formidable strategist.

By eliminating intermediate language translation layers, XPeng slashed data loss—a grueling process best summarized as: "Endure, and you’ll make it."

He had no choice. Training VLA required nearly 100 million data clips. Accepting high data loss would be like fueling a tractor with jet-grade gasoline. In a way, XPeng brute-forced its way to success—a distinctly Chinese approach. After deploying 30,000 GPUs and spending over ¥2 billion R&D, the language-free VLA achieved a qualitative leap.

At Tech Day, He announced Volkswagen as XPeng’s first VLA partner, with the German automaker also adopting XPeng’s in-house Turing AI chips. Collaboration with a European heavyweight signals global recognition of XPeng’s intelligent systems, with its autonomous driving and computing power now exportable.

Americans still reminisce about 1969, when NASA’s Apollo program reached the moon with just 4KB of RAM. As Nvidia’s Jensen Huang puts it: "Constraints breed creativity."

### 2 XPeng’s bipedal robot project began in April 2023. Back then, OpenAI’s GPT-4 had just stunned the world, and generative AI was all the rage. Across China’s tech sphere, one question loomed: "How many years until we close the gap?"

Pessimists see reality; optimists change it. He Xiaopeng, who’d previously focused on quadruped robots, pivoted decisively—because the time for humanoids had come. After years of brutal competition in EVs, the battle-hardened CEO knew: Timing is everything.

XPeng’s first humanoid, PX5, stood under 1.5 meters tall with a friendly design. A year later, after scrapping countless industrial designs, the more lifelike IRON emerged. Now, it stands at 1.73 meters, with gender-specific features, a "spine," "muscles," and shoulder articulation.

At Tech Day, IRON strutted smoothly onstage, powered by solid-state batteries for ultra-lightweight, high-density energy storage. Driven by three Turing chips (2,250 TOPS), it boasts 22 degrees of freedom in its hands and 82 overall. Equipped with XPeng’s VLA model, IRON combines high-level "brain" and "cerebellum" functions to achieve: Conversation, locomotion, and interaction.

Its fluid, human-like performance set the internet ablaze—though not all reactions were positive. The subsequent dissection felt like He Xiaopeng’s public exorcism of doubt: dismembering his creation to prove its authenticity.

A month earlier, Wu Yongming, one of Alibaba’s original "18 Arhats," broke his usual silence at the Yunqi Conference: "AGI is inevitable. AI chatbots are the fastest-adopted tech in history—outpacing all predecessors." This may be the boldest AI statement yet from a Chinese tech leader.

For four years, China’s internet sector languished under unspoken pressure. Staying quiet, retiring early—these became the norm. The shift came with DeepSeek’s rise.

Chinese tech reclaimed pride; even foreigners took notice. Trump called it a "Sputnik moment," while U.S. AI leaders urgently lobbied Washington: "Act now, or it’s over!"

Beyond DeepSeek, companies like Unitree and Game Science have revitalized China’s AI landscape. American peers now question whether their lead is unassailable—perhaps China’s AI has been systematically underestimated.

When XPeng’s IRON sparked debate, it felt familiar—another Chinese firm: Reigniting dreams of the future.

Whether humanoids, the A868 eVTOL, or autonomous driving that outthinks human drivers, He Xiaopeng—deeply influenced by Musk—brings to Chinese tech what it’s long lacked: A visionary who dares to imagine.

Yet He didn’t anticipate this: When a Chinese firm makes breakthroughs, some netizens’ first reaction is: "Fake!"

### 3 He Xiaopeng’s first product management feat? Bringing internet access to his college dorm at South China University of Technology. Upon graduation, his professor drove students to three job offers: foreign firm AsiaInfo and two state-owned enterprises. When the car stopped at AsiaInfo, He and three others got out. "Think carefully," the professor warned. Two returned to the car. He stayed.

At 27, he quit to co-found UC Browser, achieving financial freedom by 2014. That same year, he became one of Tesla’s first Chinese owners. Driving one revealed: "Great cars don’t require decades to build."

After a heart-to-heart with Lei Jun, who warned that auto startups are "100x harder" than internet ventures—especially post-exit—He plunged in anyway.

Some call him one of China’s best internet product managers. But in autos, he was a rookie. His honesty led him into pitfalls. In 2017, while building XPeng’s Zhaoqing factory, he discovered the site’s "fish pond" hid underground caves. ¥100 million and a year later, he learned: "Always survey land before breaking ground."

This foreshadowed a rocky road ahead. At his lowest, friends joked that dropping "鹏" (Peng) from XPeng’s name would double sales. This wasn’t just a business crisis—it was personal. He realized the problem: "I wanted to be chairman, not CEO."

What followed was a painful reboot: reshuffling executives, restructuring teams, overhauling supply chains. He recruited Wang Fengying, Great Wall Motors’ veteran, as president. Before joining, Wang had publicly critiqued XPeng’s flaws: "No clear product focus, lacking differentiated smart features..." He listened—and embraced her.

Gradually, XPeng’s lineup crystallized. The mass-market MONA M03, with over 200,000 units produced, optimized sales mix. Last month, XPeng delivered 42,000 vehicles—its second straight record. Its NGP driver-assist system now sees 86% monthly active usage, topping China’s smart-driving ranks.

Without that reboot two years ago, XPeng might not exist today—let alone have robots or flying cars.

### 4 Unlike many first-gen internet founders, He Xiaopeng (born 1977) rarely cites Western influences. Lei Jun reminisces about *The Silicon Valley Fire*; Wang Xing praises *Zero to One*; Pony Ma prefaces *Cognitive Surplus*; Robin Li relates to *The Hard Thing About Hard Things*.

Six years ago, when asked if Chinese EV startups could seize pricing power quickly, He pessimistically said no—without scale, survival was the priority. But China’s automakers evolved fast. By 2023, He was eyeing overseas markets, convinced of Chinese EVs’ edge: "It’s not that others slowed down—we sped up."

Now, Chinese automakers export tech. This year, He no longer seems like the self-doubting rookie urged to rename his company. His failures have fertilized growth, culminating in his own "emergence."

In He Xiaopeng, we see an unprecedented entrepreneur: Musk-like ambition paired with unexpectedly grounded execution.

Watching videos of him dissecting IRON, one senses the tremor in his voice—a frustration many Chinese engineers recognize. For years, China’s open-source community has been driven by a near-obsessive mission: "Not just technology—national identity."

What XPeng faces mirrors China’s broader tech challenge. Asked if he’s riding a wave, He agrees: "Heroes are made by their times—not the other way around."