The Economist.
A few weeks ago, I was in Guangzhou at the headquarters of Xpeng,
an EV maker with ambitions to dominate the next frontiers of China tech.
Designed to look like an airport terminal, it was teeming with visitors
who wanted to see the high-tech EVs that made the company's name,
and the prototype flying cars that were among the first to appear in China's low-altitude economy.
But the real star of the show was Xpeng's humanoid robots.
Iron, as their latest model is known, is disconcertingly lifelike,
with a synthetic skin stretched across lattice muscles that feel soft to the touch.
You might have seen videos of it walking down a catwalk in such a natural way
that online commentators questioned if it was really just a person in a suit.
As competitors in the cutthroat world of Chinese EV industry are slashing prices
and slimming margins to stay afloat, Xpeng's co-founder, He Xiaopeng, has taken a gamble,
investing heavily in what he calls physical AI.
In other words, AI-enabled robots, self-driving vehicles, and flying cars.
And now he's hoping that bet will give his company the edge in China's fiercely competitive tech industry.
The real future is the kind of robot we've always imagined,
one that can do the laundry, cook, and prepare meals for me at home.
I'm Sarah Wu, the Economist's China correspondent based in Beijing.
And I'm Jeremy Page, the Economist's chief China correspondent based in Taipei.