At the ANNUAL tech showcase of Xpeng, a maker of electric vehicles (evs),
the assembled crowd was surprised to see a female humanoid robot saunter along the catwalk.
Speculation blew up online that the robot, known as iron,
was so lifelike that there must be a human inside.
The head of Xpeng, He Xiaopeng, decided, to the dismay of his robot team,
to cut open its synthetic skin on stage the next day
to reveal the mechanical components underneath.
“People don’t dare to believe that such an advanced robot came from a Chinese startup,”
Mr He told the crowd.
“It’s like ten years ago,
when many doubted that Chinese electric vehicles could be made well and go global.”
It turned out that Chinese firms could make evs well—
too well and too cheaply for the comfort of foreign governments,
which slapped tariffs on them.
Now Mr He is revving up for the mass production of humanoid robots,
flying cars and self-driving taxis after years of development.
He is bullish that he can achieve the same success.
“By the time you and everyone else can see a trend,
it’s already no longer your opportunity,”
the baby-faced 48-year-old billionaire told The Economist