Xpeng's IRON humanoid enters mass production, walks itself off the line

Xpeng, the Chinese electric-vehicle maker, has put its IRON humanoid robot into mass production at a new automotive-grade factory in Guangzhou, with a unit autonomously walking off the line on commissioning day.

The line features more than 80% core-process automation and folds Xpeng's EV quality systems into precision robot manufacturing, the company said. IRON stands about 5'7" (173 cm), weighs 143 lb (65 kg), and runs on three Xpeng Turing AI chips delivering 2,250 TOPS of onboard compute. Its body has 76 degrees of freedom and 21 per hand, letting it grasp objects and self-charge at designated cabins.

Mass production is targeted by the end of this year, with initial rollouts in Xpeng's own stores and campuses. Broader market launch in China and overseas is planned for 2027. Xpeng's robotics business separately raised over $900 million at a post-money valuation above $6.3 billion.

Chairman He Xiaopeng has compared the rollout to the smartphone wave of the mid-2000s, and Xpeng calls IRON a "general-purpose humanoid" intended to help at home and at work. The home-help and general-purpose claims are company-stated ambitions from an IFA 2026 interview, not deployed capability. No independent benchmark yet exists for IRON's autonomy in unstructured home settings.

Xpeng enters a small but growing production club. Figure AI's Figure 03 is already in production at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg for sequencing and logistics, and Chinese peer AGIBOT has reportedly begun its own mass production.