Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng plans to launch robotaxis next year and unveiled its latest humanoid robot model, signaling a shift toward becoming more than just an automaker.

The company introduced three robotaxi models powered by its self-developed “Turing” AI chips, which provide 3,000 TOPS of computing power for its second-generation vision-language-action (VLA) AI system.

Xpeng is partnering with Alibaba’s AutoNavi mapping service for navigation and ride-hailing integration, with testing set to begin in Guangzhou and other Chinese cities.

Co-president Brian Gu noted the accelerated pace of AI development has brought the company closer to deploying robotaxis globally, despite regulatory hurdles, CNBC has reported.

Xpeng plans two robotaxi categories: commercial shared vehicles and fully autonomous personal cars, joining competitors like Pony.ai, WeRide, Baidu, and Tesla in the growing autonomous vehicle market.