🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Li Auto’s robot effort arrives during an R&D overhaul and a push for an “embodied intelligence” pitch

• Li Auto has worked on robotics products for almost a year through an internal group codenamed Nexus, according to people familiar with the work, and it has been getting ready to launch a two-wheel factory robot later this year.
• The program also covers a bipedal robot, while the two-wheel machine is expected to come out first.
• Other carmakers, including Tesla and XPeng, have explored robots for use in factories.

The shift adds risk exposure and heats up competition for hires

• The Nexus group is headed by He Junpei, a former hardware partner at robotics startup Jiuguang.