Chinese battery-electric-vehicle makers, including major players such as GAC, BYD, XPeng and Xiaomi, are aggressively entering the market for the development of humanoid robots.
Their goal is improving automaking efficiency and finding new non-auto markets for the technology, and they may have the jump on much of the global competition. Indeed, the Chinese seem to be outpacing Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has said his company would begin deploying humanoid robots at some of its facilities by 2025.
At Shanghai’s China Robotics Network Annual Conference in December, GAC unveiled “GoMate,” a humanoid robot equipped with artificial intelligence and remote-control capabilities to perform complex movements and carry heavy loads with its humanoid hands.
Guangzhou-based GAC is looking to start limited production of GoMate in 2026. Its target market is not just auto manufacturing. Indeed, the GoMate humanoid robot is also expected to play a role in security, elderly care and after-sales automotive services. This follows November’s launch by Guangzhou-based Xpeng of “Iron,” an AI-powered humanoid robot and Tesla’s unveiling of its Optimus multipurpose robot in October.
Xpeng says it already has been using the robots in its factories to help assemble cars.
In March, Brian Gu Hongdi, Xpeng’s vice-chairman and co-president, predicted the robotics industry would become larger than the automotive sector in the next few years, even if robots play a key role in vehicle manufacturing.
Geely’s luxury BEV brand Zeekr in August deployed UBTech’s humanoid robot “Walker S Lite” at its smart factory in Ningbo. In a video released by the company, the robot is seen carrying loads from different pallets to various assembly lines. Walker S Lite can lift boxes weighing up to 33 lbs. (15 kg) and is equipped with a semantic navigation system, end-to-end imitation learning, visual precision control and full-body fine motion control.
“The significant investments and progress being made by Chinese EV OEMs in the humanoid robot field signal a development that U.S. automakers will need to monitor and potentially respond to in the coming years,” says Freya Zhang, San Francisco-based EV research analyst at Tech Buzz China.
“If these companies achieve breakthroughs in humanoid-robot technology and mass production, they could potentially gain a competitive edge in manufacturing automation and, possibly, also in future consumer markets for personal robots, thereby impacting global automakers, including those in the U.S.,” she tells WardsAuto.
The synergies with BEVs serve as a key driver for Chinese automakers' advances into humanoid robots. Car companies possess significant expertise in areas crucial for humanoid robots, such as electric powertrains, sensors, machine vision, artificial intelligence, autonomous-driving algorithms and manufacturing.
GAC’s GoMate, for instance, integrates GAC’s self-developed pure-vision autonomous-driving algorithms.
“U.S. automakers may need to accelerate their research and development in these areas to remain competitive with companies that are leveraging their automotive technology for advancements in robotics,” Zhang says. “This global race for innovation could incentivize U.S. automakers to invest more in robotics research and development and compete for talent in this emerging field.”
While a key motivation for automakers in developing humanoid robots is cultivating alternative non-automotive markets, competitive advantages presented by deploying robots in automotive plants are being assessed.
For example, Zhang says industrial-grade cognitive bots could become precise assembly line supervisors sensing production errors. And they could be used to transport auto parts and components from place to place within the manufacturing plant.
Walker S Lite has packed and secured cargo in the Zeekr’s cargo transport unit, carrying loads from different pallets to various spots along the assembly line.
Western competitors are aware of the potential of humanoid robots. In August, German automaker BMW said it was using humanoid robots in production for the first time. “Figure 02” (pictured, below), a product of California-based Figure, successfully inserted sheet metal parts into special devices in the body construction of the BMW Group plant in Spartanburg, SC.
In March, Mercedes announced an agreement with the U.S. manufacturer Apptronik concerning its Apollo humanoid robot. Mercedes told German media one potential application or Apollo is assembling boxes of materials for shift workers, potentially packing the boxes overnight for use by the next day’s shift. Nevertheless, one observer believes Western manufacturers have competitive weaknesses compared with the Chinese when it comes to the humanoid robot sector.
“Western carmakers have spent the last 30 years steadily reducing their vertical integration to reduce costs and risks, but they have also lost a lot of expertise in the process,” says Björn Ognibeni, a Germany-based consultant and expert on Chinese digital trends.
“The Chinese are going in the opposite direction, integrating the whole value chain and then asking themselves what to do with the expertise they have gained,” he tells WardsAuto. “Robots are a good example of this approach, because a lot of the know-how from building modern smart cars can be used to build robots.”
Chinese companies such as startup Unitree Robotics are making rapid progress. Ognibeni recalls seeing a Unitree H1 prototype at its Hangzhou headquarters in November 2023, needing to be secured to a ceiling to prevent it from repeatedly falling over.
“Everyone who saw it thought it would take a while for it to look like a viable product,” he says. “But just a few months later, the H1 was jumping around on YouTube and starring in a ballet for this Chinese New Year in January.”
The company has flagged potential uses in project inspection and fire/rescue services for these robots.
“At the moment, the use cases for these humanoid robots are still very limited,” Ognibeni says. “But the Chinese are working on solving all the difficult hardware problems and will have quite compelling products once AI and software catch up.”
Another observer believes chances are high the U.S. will see Chinese humanoid robots in its automotive manufacturing plants before long. “GAC and the other Chinese companies will do everything they can to further develop them to reduce manufacturing costs, and if they can do that with the humanoid robots, they will scale it up,” says Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, director of the Center for Automotive Research in Germany. “And of course, if they build a car factory in the U.S., they will be courted by Donald Trump.”
