On February 24, the first working day following the Spring Festival break, He Xiaopeng, CEO of XPENG Motors, addressed the company’s staff with a memo titled ‘Steady Progress and Breakthroughs: Embracing a New Decade of Embodied AI Together in 2026’. In this communication, He Xiaopeng outlined an ambitious objective: to ‘mass-produce dreams’ by 2026. He announced that XPENG’s next-generation IRON robots would commence mass production by the year’s end, positioning the company to become the first globally to achieve large-scale manufacturing of sophisticated humanoid robots.

This year, IRON robots will initially be deployed in scenarios such as guided tours and retail assistance, with the SDK being made accessible to developers worldwide. He Xiaopeng expressed his aspiration for XPENG Motors to capitalize on the ‘DeepSeek’ moment within China’s autonomous driving industry. He underscored that 2026 represents a pivotal milestone for XPENG, marking significant advancements in embodied AI and its global expansion.