Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng said the robotics industry will become larger than the automotive sector in the next few years, though it added that it might take a half-decade before humanoid robots are available in households.
“Regarding robotics, I think it is probably going to be the biggest future industry, bigger than automotive in some ways because of the vast numbers and also the utility scenarios that can be deployed,” said Brian Gu Hongdi, Xpeng’s vice-chairman and co-president, during a video briefing on Wednesday.
Gu said Xpeng would first focus on deploying its robots in commercial settings like factories and retail outlets.
On Tuesday during an earnings call, the Guangzhou-based carmaker identified three growth areas: equipping its cars with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, growing outside China and developing humanoid robots.
In November, Xpeng unveiled Iron, an AI-powered humanoid robot, just a month after Tesla showed off a similar product called Optimus.
Xpeng said it has been using robots in its factories to help assemble its cars, adding that it plans to mass produce humanoid robots and flying cars for the consumer market by the end of next year.
