GoKawiilXPENG's latest factory arrival made its own exit. The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer says its Iron humanoid robot walked autonomously off its newly operational production line after its assembly was complete, paving the way for mass production later this year. Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng even bestowed a staff badge on it. Onboarding paperwork apparently is already sorted too.
In a September 7 announcement, XPENG claimed that over 80 percent of the line's core processes are automated. It's adapting quality systems from its car business and applying them to make robots consistently as production increases. "Today's step is small, but XPENG is building the production lines for an entirely new product category," He said.
The walk is an attractive way for XPENG to mark that progress, but it doesn't tell us much about whether Iron can make it through a working day. XPENG did not reveal the line's current output or how much testing was done before the walk, and mass production is still a year-end goal.