There is a company called ‘Tesla of China’. Xiaopeng, well-known as a Chinese electric vehicle startup, is the main character. Since its launch in 2014, it has grown into the «Big 5» of Chinese electric vehicles along with BYD, Nio, and Rioto in 10 years. Based on its success in China, the world’s largest electric vehicle market, it is aiming to enter overseas markets such as Korea. It has now become China’s representative ‘Big Tech’ that manufactures flying cars and humanoid robots beyond electric vehicles. Chairman and CEO He Xiaofeng, who is called «Elon Musk of China,» is the head of the company that has led Xiaofeng.
Maeil Business Newspaper was the first Korean media to hold a written interview with Chairman Heo to hear about Xpeng’s core technologies, business plans, and China’s future high-tech industries. The following is a question and answer with Chairman Huh.
-What is Xiaopeng’s differentiated technology.
▷Xiaopeng is making a leading achievement in the field of autonomous driving. I think I am in the process of gradually developing to a higher level of level 3 or level 4. This allows consumers to experience safer and more flexible autonomous driving. Above all, I am confident that the continuous learning of artificial intelligence models (ultra-large AI platforms) will lead to the growth of autonomous driving performance. Currently, Xiaopeng Turing AI Driving System based on the AI model has been established, and it has developed its own fields from cloud, model, chip, and hardware. Among them, Nvidia in the U.S. is an important partner in the chip sector. Xpeng’s Turing AI chip is applied to smart cars, humanoid robots, and flying cars simultaneously for the first time in the world.
-If I were to point out the competitiveness of Chinese electric vehicles.
▷First of all, China is at the forefront of the world in electrification technology, which laid a solid foundation for standardization. In addition, China is the world’s largest automobile market. Consumers are rapidly embracing new technologies and there is considerable demand for smart functions such as autonomous driving. I’m willing to pay for it as well. These characteristics are the core competitiveness of Chinese electric vehicles.
-The Chinese government pointed out the phenomenon of «卷 (bleeding competition).»
▷I think it’s very right direction. The electric vehicle industry should move away from price competition to technology and quality competition. This can gradually turn the industry ecosystem into a healthy competition. In particular, it should be able to provide real value to consumers through the application of core technologies such as AI and autonomous driving. The industry hopes to avoid malicious competition and realize a «win-win» through differentiated positioning, R&D, and quality improvement.
-What are your future plans for the robot business.
▷The follow-up model of the previously introduced humanoid robot ‘IRON’ will be released in the fourth quarter of this year and mass-produced next year. We have already been conducting related research for five years. This field is expected to require investment of at least 50 billion yuan to 1 trillion yuan (9 trillion to 19 trillion won) over the next 20 years. Iron, equipped with its own Turing AI chip, implements environmental awareness, autonomous walking, logical reasoning, and dialogue, and has already been deployed to the Guangzhou plant to handle logistics transportation, classification, and assembly.
– Imagine how humanoid robots will be used in China in 5 to 10 years.
▷If technology advances further in the future, humanoid robots are expected to reach level 4 and perform a wide range of complex and collaborative tasks. In other words, only a minimum number of people are needed to oversee them. Ultimately, the humanoid robot enters level 5. In other words, robots will reach the level of general-purpose artificial intelligence (AGI) and ultra-artificial intelligence (ASI) and operate fully autonomously in accordance with laws and regulations.
-It has been nicknamed ‘Elon Musk of China’. How do you feel.
▷Tesla founder Elon Musk is an entrepreneur I respect very much. This comparison can be seen as a figurative expression of China’s entrepreneurial spirit by the public. These nicknames are good, but the important point is what long-term value we can create for consumers, industry, and society. Xiaopeng’s top priority is to thoroughly implement technology development and quality improvement within the boundaries of the law to distribute «smart mobility» to numerous homes around the world.
Chairman He Xiaopeng
Born in Hubei Province, China in 1977, he graduated from Huanan Li Palace (Huanan Yi Gong) University with a degree in computer science. It founded UC Web, a software company, in 2004 and sold it to Alibaba for $4.35 billion in 2014. Afterwards, he joined Alibaba and served as the president of the mobile division and the CEO of the game division. After founding Xpeng in 2014, he took over as chairman and CEO in 2017.
[Beijing correspondent Song Kwang-seop]
