A Unitree humanoid robot introduces the Li L9 Livis at the Beijing Auto Museum. Credit: Li Auto
- The expert will oversee robot foundation-model development, with the team planned to remain below 50 people.
- Li Auto plans to develop a dedicated foundation model for robots rather than reuse its autonomous-driving model, setting its approach apart from Tesla and Xpeng.
Li Auto (NASDAQ: LI) has reportedly hired a veteran world-model expert, bolstering development of the “brain” behind its robots.
The expert, identified by the pseudonym Liu Yu, has been named head of the “embodied behavior unit” within Li Auto’s foundation-model team, local media outlet 21jingji reported Thursday.
Liu will oversee the development of foundation models for robots and report to Zhan Kun, head of the foundation-model team. The report did not disclose his real name or previous employers.
He has 8 years of experience in autonomous driving and previously worked at the AI laboratory of a major internet company and a leading Chinese automaker.
Liu had considered starting a robotics company focused on household applications, aiming to build “China’s Physical Intelligence.”
One reason he ultimately chose to join Li Auto was his recognition of the company’s early research into VLA (Vision-Language-Action Model) technology and its deployment in production vehicles, according to the report.
Liu was among the earlier experts in China to conduct world-model research. He led a team that began exploring the technology in 2023.
The team used world models to generate synthetic data for long-tail scenarios and enabled end-to-end autonomous-driving models to undergo simulation training in virtual environments.
That experience could help Li Auto accelerate the development of robot models, though the company does not plan to directly reuse its autonomous-driving model.
Li Auto is developing 3 foundation models for intelligent cockpits, autonomous driving and robots, 21jingji cited a company employee as saying.
The intelligent-cockpit and autonomous-driving models are MindGPT 3.1 and MindVLA-o1, respectively. Liu will develop a separate foundation model for robots.
The approach differs from the unified, cross-application models pursued by some rivals, the report noted.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) said its neural world simulator can be used for both Full Self-Driving (FSD) and the Optimus robot. Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV) also plans to use its second-generation VLA in vehicles, robots and flying cars.
Liu believes the experience that can be reused from autonomous driving lies in data training and AI infrastructure development, rather than the data or models themselves.
His team plans to first train the model on general-purpose spatial and world datasets from the internet, then add robot data to improve its ability to generalize across embodiments, tasks and scenarios.
The unit currently has fewer than 50 people, including full-time employees and interns. Liu values team quality over size and plans to keep its total headcount below 50, 21jingji said.
The hiring comes as Li Auto accelerates its robotics efforts. The company launched a robotics project code-named “Nexus” in late 2024.
In a March report, 21jingji said Li Auto planned to unveil its first two-wheeled robot this year, initially for factory manufacturing applications. It is also developing a bipedal robot.
As supply chains for components including motors and reducers mature, competition among automakers is shifting from robot hardware toward foundation models and execution capabilities.
The competition is also attracting substantial capital. Earlier this week, Xpeng announced about $900 million in financing commitments for its robotics subsidiary Dogotix, implying a post-money valuation of around $6.3 billion.
The new hire could also help Li Auto replenish its AI talent ranks. The company has lost 13 key executives across autonomous driving, chips and robotics over the past year, according to 21jingji.
They include former autonomous-driving chief Lang Xianpeng. He left after a brief stint leading the humanoid robotics business and founded an embodied-AI startup.
Nio plans to make a strategic investment in the physical AI and embodied intelligence company founded by Ren and collaborate with it.
