Dongfeng Motor will start small-batch trial production of its self-developed humanoid robot by the end of this year, becoming the latest Chinese carmaker to set a timeline for putting robots to work. The machine, called Xiaodong, is due to enter company plants in October, where it will take on sorting and quality-inspection duties, with the goal of matching the output of human workers by the close of 2027. The details came from Zhang Zhenlin, Dongfeng's chief engineer of intelligent technology, speaking at the company's tenth science and technology innovation week.
A quadruped robot named Yuanzai will reach the market even sooner, with its first assignments expected at dealerships guiding customers. Both machines debuted at the World Robot Conference in August. Zhang argued that carmakers' embodied-intelligence efforts allow technology to be reused across areas such as automotive large models, speeding up commercialization, and he predicted that vehicles themselves will eventually count as embodied-intelligence products.
Dongfeng's timetable mirrors a broader scramble among Chinese automakers into robotics, a field they see as a natural extension of their supply-chain, manufacturing and AI strengths. Xpeng started up a humanoid robot production line on September 8 and still expects its Iron robot to enter mass production around year-end. Aimoga Robotics, which grew out of Chery, has shipped more than 3,000 robots worldwide — over 2,000 of them abroad — and is preparing for an IPO, while Li Auto, Seres and Leapmotor have each disclosed embodied-intelligence plans this year.
Dongfeng used the same event to lay out its international ambitions: a cumulative 50 billion yuan ($7.41 billion) of overseas investment, more than 50 models launched abroad, 10 large overseas production bases and 5 R&D centers, targeting 1.5 million overseas vehicle sales by 2030.