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I think in the future, cities will use low-altitude transportation. Cities will use autonomous driving systems. Families and communities will use intelligent transportation. Today in China, I think XNGP is the number one smart driving system. We hope that real mass production will deliver a high-end intelligent product. From Guangzhou to Hong Kong, take our flying car for 15 minutes. We hope to be the strongest embodied AI company.
I heard that the founder of an enterprise suddenly drew this kind of cake. I think it's unreliable. Either he's bragging, or he thinks too much and goes crazy. Why do we say XPeng's autonomous driving is good? The interesting thing they mentioned is that there is a special road next to our company headquarters, coming out of the urban villages of Guangzhou. We say, look up to the stars but keep your feet on the ground. If a person can be bold and bragging at the same time, but be very careful when operating, you won't be alert to him, but start to be curious and take a closer look at what he is going to do.
In 2021, my father was sick and I found that being a son was not reliable. Because in matters of caregiving, it's difficult for a son to have constant companionship. In the future, if we want quality and dignity when we're old, we need robots to be with us. If you're willing to watch for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, then we can create this generation.
If you hear someone bragging, in fact, you want him to fail. What you hear is a bubble. You want this bubble to break. But obviously, my psychological state today is not like this. Maybe he's still bragging, maybe it's a bubble, maybe it's his dream. But I really hope he succeeds now. I think these are two different psychological states — a person's feelings toward another person. I really hope he succeeds now.
Hello, Mr. Dandan. Hello. Your space is so beautiful. I came here for the first time. I just moved in last year. Hello, I'm Wang Chen from the PR Department of XPeng. Thank you. Hello, Mr. Wang. Let me introduce you to the exhibition hall first.
OK. It's so cool. This is what we want to do in the second generation. It's like this. Look at its pad. It's so cool. It's like something from science fiction. Is it? It feels like something only Iron Man and Batman can use. This is a demonstration for you.
When its pad is folded up, it can be vertical. When it enters horizontal flight, just like just now, the pad will stand up like this and push it forward to accelerate. It can do this? Yes. It's not just two people — it's like a toy in a game. It's not like a real-world plane anymore. It's like a toy. This is the third one I just mentioned. It doesn't make sense. It's more like a toy — the one that flies when you look at it.
Hello, Mr. Peng. Welcome to XPeng. I've been touring around. I'm still amazed. Then Mr. Peng, show me the land carrier. Yes. Is our name called the land carrier? In Chinese, we hope to be called the land carrier. In fact, it's like an aircraft carrier. It can take off and fly like an airplane. We can also get out of the car. This plane can fly again.
It's really cool to use it. You can see. It's very cool. We had a lot of creativity last time. That is to say, most people who buy planes — first, it's too expensive. Second, it's not convenient to use. You have to go to the airport to use it. There may be remote places in the airport. So this one can be creative — it can be on ordinary land. In fact, even on a normal grassland, it can take off.
Is it vertical? Vertical takeoff and landing. All we do is vertical takeoff and landing. In fact, what you need in the end is some licenses. Yes. Then do some training for our pilots. It needs a TC license. Secondly, it also needs a pilot's license. The pilot's license — I believe it will be better next year. It won't be more troublesome than this.
Look at this whole floor. Put a plane in a passenger car system. It can take about a few minutes to move a plane automatically. Because this plane is about 800 kilometers. Oh my God. It's still quite heavy. That's 800 kilometers. Then your car — your car is very strong. Look at this car. Look, it's driving forward automatically. This car has six wheels. Six areas. Plus the plane is close to the city weight. It's about city weight. So if you look at the back of it, it's pretty interesting. It's like a transport plane.
In fact, I feel this may be the first step in the future, maybe ten years later, of the Transformers transformation. You see, when we watched Transformers when we were young, basically it can be folded very smoothly. In fact, the folding process is very difficult. You have to make sure that it succeeds every time. And then it starts to change shape. It's actually going to stretch it out first. And then the memory of this one — it needs to be manually opened. Do you want to try it?
Yes. Feel it. Let our cameraman teach you first. The first one is easy. Let me teach you. You see, push it out. You push it. Be careful with your head. OK. Push it. Push it until it makes a sound. Hard. OK. So, and then, to this place, it has an auto-locking action. I heard it. OK. This action is done, it's okay. Okay, you can look at it now. Look, it's written here. Spread, fold, different logic. Silly operation. This is the order. Yes, you can try it. It's all locked up.
Will it not touch the car? It's just right. Yes. You have to teach everyone. Know where to turn it on. Yes. There must be a lock. There is a lock. Yes. The most important thing is that new friends don't know where the buckle is. Yes. I understand. You see. OK. Yes. Then I will. Yes. You see. It's easy. Yes. Yes. You see. You are opening a plane. The feeling. The feeling. There is a buckle here. Yes. Isn't this a Transformer?
Then you can go up. Yes. You can go up here. You can go up. You grab this. I have just felt it. Because your height is very high. So you have to look at your height. OK, there is also automatic flying. You can fly automatically, you can fly manually. Is it also automatic to take off? Well, you can do it. We used a new one last time — a more car-like flight logic. In fact, you see this is up and down. This is front and back. It's over. It's very simple. This is left and right. This is very intuitive. And very simple operation. Very simple.
In fact, the most important thing for the whole plane is safety. You see the flight control system in this. Everyone else has a double-redundant system, and every set has a backup. You have to make sure it's safe. Yes, safety is the most important thing. Many people have driven cars and been on planes. But those who have piloted planes are rare. I hope everyone can experience your vision in the future. I think in the future, between cities, everyone can have affordable, safe, high-quality aircraft.
We also have a small design. It's so hot these days, we can turn on the air conditioner. Oh, we have an air conditioner here. Yes, there is an air conditioner here. I didn't even see it, where is it? Behind us, in the middle of the back. Then click here to turn on the air conditioner. Very good. Accelerate the temperature, very cool. Oh my God, I'm here. You fly about 50 meters to 100 meters. You feel like you're looking at the whole sky. The feeling is very interesting.
I've flown many times in the last 10 years. You've been doing this a lot this year. I'm a passenger now, I'm going to learn. You can take someone else to fly when you finish learning. When you don't learn, you can only be taken by someone else to fly. Right? Good. Think about it.
I think a few years later, for example, if you go from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, take our flying car — 15 minutes. Oh my god. You can get there. This is really — as long as it's new technology, whether you say AI or a flying machine, I don't know who will succeed. I don't know at all. But I completely believe that technology will be super-improved. There must be a lot of new opportunities after the improvement. I believe in this.
Let me tell you — assisted driving. This is all your natural resources for many years, right? Yes. I just saw them introduce it. XPeng, we think the most important thing is autonomous driving. OK, you can see. This car has a few interesting features. You see, after getting on the car, they defined a guide. Yes. You just have to slide to guide. Ah, this is locked now. Yes. Good. Ah. Look at me. Ah.
You see the appearance of this car. Our car is made for young people. SUV. So the whole appearance of it — young, fashionable, and athletic. The whole muscle feeling is very good. Inside, you touch here. All soft. Well. This car is a car of the 150,000 level. This car? Ah, this is one of the cheapest cars we sell. Oh, that's... oh, oh, oh, you think about it. I'm really a little bit shocked. So it's very delicate inside.
I just heard that our car has been rolled into this. This car is 150,000? Too exaggerated, too scary. So you think about it — the interior design of this car is very good. There's a drawer at the back. The trunk is also very flexible. It can be customized. You can see new things are installed everywhere. Look at this, a self-driving car with a high-end assisted driving system. We drive in Germany. Ask German media and manufacturers to use this self-driving car. This is for next month. I'm already amazed.
They say, 'Oh my God.' They used to think that self-driving cars are very slow. They often brake. They often hesitate. Then drive according to the map. We don't use the map now. You see, we don't need any high-definition maps. Because you can do it in China. What do you do overseas? There are many places overseas, especially Southeast Asia, with very narrow roads. Correct. It has no road markings. You can only look at the visual angle to judge.
Got it. Oh, this is a little shocking to me. It's too scary. You are not afraid now. There is no sense of insecurity. Yes, I said this is scary. Is the price what scared me? It's this thing. I still feel that this technology has improved. It's a bit scary to be so cheap while it's still improving. We hope that it is high quality, high technology, high-quality, and fashionable SUV that can be made for young people. The price is a bit ridiculous.
This assisted driving is now fully approved in China, right? We are now an L2-level assisted driving. China and the United States have both. Other countries around the world will probably have policies at the end of December this year. So the timing of each country's implementation will be different. But I think it's probably in the first half of next year. It's all unified around the world. Yes, yes. This is indeed quite scientific.
The first time I experienced this Tesla thing when I went to Silicon Valley was very shocking. But I feel it's too advanced and too automatic. So you've done FSD, you're doing this. The feeling of the two is similar and different. Yes, I want to take a look. This one is very similar, but this one is more beautiful than that one. In fact, from a certain angle, you will feel that we are very smooth. That is to say, if you close your eyes and feel that its acceleration, deceleration, cornering, braking, and starting are smoother than most of them.
I completely believe that. I completely accept that this kind of intelligent driving is absolutely beyond the level of most drivers. The level of the driver. Okay, we just called the small road inside the park. Well, then we're going to the main road now. Okay, I'll do it. This is directly connected to the pipe. Yeah, you don't need that. You let go and it automatically goes back. Yeah, you see, it's called co-driving. Ah, it's the logic of co-driving.
Okay, we're now entering a small road in the village. It's not very easy to drive. You see, there's a small road in the village in front. The parking situation is also a bit chaotic. Yeah, why do we say XPeng's autonomous driving is doing well? They also talked about another interesting possibility. That is to say, next to our headquarters, there is a special road. And then a lot of cars, relying on the urban villages of Guangzhou. If you can handle the urban villages of Guangdong, then those in Europe should be able to handle it. It's the small roads of the urban villages. Single cars, motorcycles, combined with a variety of objects. It's a special thing.
In fact, it is not difficult now, because there are too few cars, because we are in the afternoon now. If you are in the early and late peak period, you will find that it is very crowded here, and there are many cars playing games. It was very interesting at that time. It's okay, just his overtaking judgment. He didn't overtake there just now because it was an internal roundabout road. It's because it's a routine in the past.
And we plan to go to the whole of Europe and more countries at the beginning of next year. So recently, we did a test in the Black Forest in Europe, and basically did not add any European data to do post-training and reinforcement learning with this set of capabilities. All have been very good, and many European media and partners have come to try it.
So this system of yours will also be sold to other car factories, right? Now, some of the test models of Volkswagen are already in use, and we are still looking at more cooperative partners. And we will have a new generation of XNGP at the end of next month. It's much smarter than this generation. Is it the second generation now? This is the first big version of the second generation. The second big version is at the end of August. Our version in August — there is another one that can use voice to say, '100 meters in front, find a small intersection on the right, help me stop for the next round.' It will stop. At this time, local interaction with voice will be achieved. This is also the function at the end of next month.
You are now all surprised in your daily life. Absolutely. I think driving is... Actually, new drivers are very happy to drive. After driving for a while, especially driving long distance, you will feel... Driving is a physical activity. Yes, ten times. The attention is too high. So, if it's safe and smooth, all scenes can be executed very well.
And you are overseas, there is another advantage. You are not familiar with the roads overseas. Yes. Right? Yes. I drive in Germany. On the one hand, I have to adapt to the car, on the other hand, I have to adapt to the road, and I have to adapt to the culture. Their German driving is really weird — its speed limit is very high, then limited, then limited. You see, in France, there are a lot of roads where the speed limit is very strict, and you have to press a button.
So if you go overseas, if there is a thing in China that can drive around the world, you can use Chinese to guide it, let it drive automatically. You can use voice to tell it, 'Stop at the place in front, I'm going to the bathroom,' and then drive forward, pick up a person or something. You will feel that real automatic driving will help people. Actually, the driving environment in China is more complicated than in the United States.
But if you go to Southeast Asia or Italy in Europe, Italy's roads are very small. So you have to be able to drive the car well on a very narrow road. It's also a level problem. I just went to these places you mentioned a while ago. I feel that this technology is a direct experience for them to improve their two generations. Absolutely. It will be a bit scary for their living standards and driving experience. Because I think it's too bad. Others have other good places, but their traffic is really ridiculous.
So now the takeover rate is very low. So why did I say at the end of August — if you can get the takeover rate to 70% now, in fact, by the end of the year, we are really likely. We are now working hard to upgrade the next version. In fact, OTA upgrades can take the indicators from robot taxis to ordinary L2-level cars. In other words, the robot taxi requires extreme safety, right? I can do the security and comprehensiveness of the robot taxi in a standard L2 car. Is your feeling completely different? It will definitely be like this in the future. It's the first to arrive. Yes, it has to be like this.
We all know that in the past ten years, China's cars have changed very quickly with new cars, right? But from another point of view, what kind of change is the new 10 years? It must be that the new energy cars become intelligent — first they become autonomous drivers, and then they become robots. There is a process. Now is the first five years of cars becoming autonomous drivers. The second five years — you see, he just slowed down a little bit. If it were a person, he's driving in front of you. You'll brake. If you can see it from afar, you'll make a slight left and a slight speed reduction. You see, he's already done it.
But he stopped here and looked carefully. He did this time. Now I've been doing it for more than 20 minutes, more than ten minutes. The feeling is still very good — you will be very assured. You see, he didn't have sudden stops, sudden kills, sudden accelerations. The jerking is the most uncomfortable. Yes, the jerking feeling is common with novice drivers. Or when driving a car, etc. The second is called the sense of smoothness. Many cars on this road under assisted driving — they often don't move. They stop and don't move. They don't know what to do. They say, 'I don't know. You come here yourself.' The devil is ahead. I found it. Feel it. I'm not sure if this version can pass. But I think the next version of this kind of ability will be very strong. This is indeed. Look, he's trying to be like a person. Is it? I suspect he's not.
You see, he's already hitting left. In fact, it shouldn't be. Because he couldn't cut the distance in front. He cut it back. I didn't do anything. That's interesting. He wants to save some time. He was trying to beat the red light just now. Hit a little bit and cut it back. So these are also based on the radar. Vision. Pure vision. Yes. How many cameras are there? Seven of the outside cameras of this car are used for autonomous driving. There are four of them used for non-autonomous driving. There are at least one or two in the interior.
This is called looking at my face. If my face falls asleep, I can't fall asleep. He keeps calling the alarm. If the driver doesn't take over, he will automatically park on the side. Double flashers. Then he doesn't move. Here you see I have to hold the steering wheel. It's still too complicated here. Yes, it's hard to drive here. It's too scary. This general driver must be very nervous. Like a car on the side of the road — if he opens the side door immediately, this car will cut the line immediately. Our function is called 'dooring detection.' Sometimes accidentally a car on the side of the road — suddenly a person came down when the door was opened. At this time, autonomous driving must handle it. Three-door side door.
You see here, it's all visual. You will use the radar. It is reflected. I didn't see it at all. I just noticed. He can directly detect a dog, a small bicycle, and directly avoid it. We used to go to Silicon Valley, and the most painful thing was hitting a squirrel in the beginning, because it couldn't see the squirrel. And now it can see all kinds of small animals, and it can ensure your safety.
I haven't experienced this for a long time. I found that now the voice interaction has become stronger. You see, there was a person just now, and he just showed it on the screen. In fact, there are many traffic accidents every year in the world, and everyone knows that if the real car is in five years or ten years — from assisted driving to fully autonomous driving, even to unmanned driving, safety will be improved.
So I think autonomous driving in the new decade — the first five years is the release of people's hands and feet, even to the eyes. After the release, the car is getting smarter and smarter. Just like the engine — for example, when I get off the car, he helped me charge the battery, he charged it himself. Helped me wash the car, washed it himself. And then helped me find a parking space — sometimes it's very difficult to find a parking space, it takes a lot of time. In fact, I think this technology is basically achieved in two years. And then it takes a few more years to make the policy reliable, to make the social rhythm of the world better, which is getting better and better. It's still a social issue. Yes, it must be a social issue. Now it is very convenient to navigate. There was a time when it was very painful to navigate, when I was young.
I have to stay in my hometown for at least one night. I wake up at 5 a.m. on the first day. Then I go to my hometown at 7 or 8 a.m. on the second day. Now, from my hometown, from the place where I was born, to my father, it's my strange place — three hours. I think in the future, we will use low-altitude transportation in cities. We will use autonomous driving in cities. We will use intelligent transportation in families and communities. These three kinds of new transportation services — it will make our life more convenient, more efficient, lower cost, and more satisfactory. And it will definitely change.
There is no change in Guangzhou. You used to be in Guangzhou, right? I'm next to your school. Are you from Hua Gong? Are you from Hua Si? Hua Long. Hua Long, OK. Jin Aizi. Jin Aizi. That's really close to us. Yes. Isn't that the campus next to us? Our school is connected. Connected, yes. My school is completely connected. Let's go to each other's canteens to eat. Huarong's canteens are good. It's delicious. Yes. Because after all, there are some of our own products. What year were you at that time? I'm 95 to 99.
This often reveals all the ages. A lot of people say, were you born in 95 to 99? No, we were university students. OK, we'll be right back. Just the right time. OK. OK. Very strong.
Mr. Zhang, let's stay here. We left you a surprise. What's this? There's a small gold model in here. What's this? This is what I'm most interested in. This is the vending robot in our vending machine. Vending machine. Yes. This is very cool. Oh, it's so hard-working. This can be placed on the floor. On the street. Look, there are special boards on both sides. Yes, it can be said that it is a floating stall. This is so cool. And there are slots in here that can be used for lighting. At night, you can install different slots here. They all have electricity. Very interesting.
Okay, uncle. I'll take this. Take it. I have those myself. I don't have this. I think you are in a particularly good state. I think it's first of all the mentality. I'm not as worried as you are. After taking the car, the plane, the machine gun — you have all kinds of difficulties every day, problems, challenges. I feel dizzy just by walking around the park. There were more than 20,000 people just now. Yes, now there are less than 30,000 people. There are 10,000 people in this park. More than 10,000 people. So many people have problems with your management. Think about it, you get paid on time every month. This is irresistible. The cost is too big.
And on this road, the more you go back, the more you feel responsible. So many people eat together. So many people pay for themselves together. So many people pursue life together. You can't do it yourself. You can't do it yourself. You can't do it yourself. You can't do it yourself. Did you ever think about putting up such a big stall when you started? More than 30,000 people, so many businesses. I didn't think about it. The first step was the car, right? Yes.
At that time, I actually just wanted to say that the vision was to travel in the future. Changed the plane that traveled for more than 100 years. Cars were invented and created. Changed our life. But I think maybe thousands of companies can do it very well. Now the car company has tens of thousands of people, tens of thousands of people. So if our car can go to the world, if the next five years of our car in China is the next five years of our rapid development, can really reach our goal. In the end, it was forced to be 100,000 people to a scale of a few hundred thousand people. I like to be low-key, I don't like to care about a lot of people. But now they're all forced. If you don't come, you won't grow up. You have to communicate even if you don't communicate.
Including the interview now. And then I have to go outside to give a speech. I have to take care of so many employees. Let's talk about the speech first. A while ago, it was the MONA car I just sat on. It was released in the dark. Is this your first full English speech? Yes, my English is very bad. Hubei English.
Hello everyone. Yeah, I'm He Xiaopeng. This is the first time for me to give a formal presentation in English, in my Chinese, Hubei-accented English. So if I make any mistake along the way, I hope you can give me a little more patience. I think this is the first time we need to cut the robot open to prove no person inside. The production version will be smarter, stronger, and cleverer.
I often have meetings with my foreign friends and classmates. Sometimes they all say, 'Can you speak slower? Can you repeat it?' I think, but don't be afraid. I think so — our very capable PR classmates, they said, they called me and said, 'It's okay. They understand.' Actually, they asked you to do this English speech. Because I had a speech overseas before. At that time, some people used simultaneous translation, some people used consecutive translation. Because in a press conference, at least an hour or even longer, translators have a hard time understanding your train of thought. So the things he translated are getting more and more awkward. You think it's wrong, because I can basically understand it, but I can't speak it well.
So I said later, I said I would try my best to speak English. Then they especially helped us a little bit. That is to say, I can speak English. Then I will talk a little more. I don't know how to speak English. Learn how to make sounds at the scene, etc. I think it's the last combination. I think I'm not afraid to take a step forward. There will be more such occasions in the future. I think they don't care whether they understand or not. Anyway, they are clapping. I think yes. I am very satisfied with the PR department. We also know that the effect is very good. What do you think?
The release this time in Munich is very successful. I think the effect is very good. I think even in Germany, also, in recent years, there hasn't been such a large-scale press conference of a car. It's like a car is going home, and a car is going home. Yes, Germany is actually the birthplace of cars. Not to mention a new car company in China. I think courage, courage, innovation, sincerity, and then gradually forming mutual trust is a process.
I still have a feeling. I just went to Germany a while ago. Maybe we're all used to it. Maybe it's a bit hard to understand. When I went out of the German station, I walked to the main road. My first feeling was — wow, there are so many gas cars on this earth. There are so many gas cars on this earth. He has a voice. In fact, there are not so many people in China. There are so many gas cars. There are so many German cars. It's the brands we've been familiar with since we were young. Including Volkswagen. Oh, it's all over the street.
I feel that he must have a strong ego and tradition when it comes to development. You still want to go to this market when you go there. We are actually different from many cars in the world. We want to be a high-end car company overseas. In fact, we are represented in Austria from a certain angle, so Germany, Britain, and France are our main countries. We are now selling in Germany every month, and France is doing quite well every month. And the average price is more than 50,000 euros, so the price of a single car is more than 50,000 euros.
So from another angle, we now think that in these countries that were originally very powerful in cars, you have to do high-quality cars. Have patience. So why do I say that they will actually pay for this brand? They actually feel that our cars, even Chinese cars, are now a few years of quality. Selling our cars in Germany — we're selling Benz on the left, selling BMW on the left, selling XPeng on the right. Which is very convincing. It is completely one door, two sides. One side sells a brand. I think the global ability of cars — we still have to continue to learn from the best players in the world.
In terms of electrification, Chinese players are stronger and more reliable. In terms of AI, China is also stronger and more reliable. If we can do these three skills better in the next ten years, I personally think that China's automotive industry is completely possible to be stronger. I'm looking forward to it.
I think sometimes it's really an era that has helped a bunch of companies, helped a bunch of products. In the end, it can be done better and better. When you decided to start a business, did you see this trend or did you say you were going to bet on it? I've been in business. I think the trend is the most important thing. So I have a sentence — I didn't say it, but what I believe very much is to win in the pattern, lose in details. For the pattern of the company, the first half of it is to look at the trend. The second half is to look at the quality.
Let's go back a little bit. What did you see when you were at UC? I was at UC. It was very simple. In 2002, I was on a Motorola 388. A black and white screen phone. At that time, I found that I could actually play games on it. It was also able to use — it was called K-Java, I think. It can also use the programming language of K-Java to write small programs. Yes, there is this — this is a touch screen. There is a pen. Then I thought — I said — one day, it's kind of like a computer. At that time, it didn't have a pad. And then, other people say that this screen is small, the speed is slow, the network is poor. Why do you say that? You have to look at the trend. In the future, it will definitely get better.
So after that, UC's idea was actually in 2003. UC was founded in 2004. I saw the trend of technological change. And then, like a small start-up company, to take two steps before a big company. Two steps. It's too early to die. Three steps and one step. Yes, two steps. I heard you said you were in the 95th grade. 95th and 99th grade. You just graduated at that time. I worked for three years. Where did you work at that time? I started working at AsiaInfo. AsiaInfo is a Chinese Internet infrastructure company. What kind of company is it?
That is to say, at that time, the basic infrastructure design of the Internet in China in 1999 was basically done by AsiaInfo. It is the second company in China to be listed overseas. Sorry, I don't understand. What does it mean by infrastructure? It means that it helps you build the network, make a server room, make a network. At that time, it was very difficult to get on the Internet, right? But it is the first batch in China to build the education network from the Internet. The English name is AsiaInfo. At that time, it was a group of young men from Tsinghua and Peking University. It was also a very young Chinese company. It is a Chinese company of VIE. It is also a Chinese company. The current company is still very big. I went to this company after work for the third month. It was the third month of work.
This company was listed. The first time I saw them, they gave me a piece of paper showing how many stocks they would give me. At that time, the stock was very valuable. They said, 'You can buy a house.' And then suddenly I thought it was too important to follow a good company. This is also a trend. I think this was the right trend to choose. Because when I went there, there was no concept that the Internet was the future back in 1999.
What was your concept at the time?
When I went in, I thought it was a different kind of foreign company. It was a foreign-owned company run by a Chinese man. He was doing high-tech services in China. But at that time, I didn't have a deep understanding of the Internet.
I heard that when we did the background investigation, you had already solved a problem in college. Was it a dormitory network or a school network?
The Internet problem in the dormitory. Yes, the first dormitory education network at Huazhong University of Science and Technology was also the first batch in China. We started in 1996. But I think at that time, I still wanted to go online. I hadn't seen it yet. I have a classmate — we were in a hurry. He is the co-founder of NetEase. He started a business with Ding Lei. He was number two. So, in another way, among our classmates at that time, we also saw a lot of people with different ideas. So at some point, the environment will really change. Because in Guangzhou, a lot of new ideas have changed.
At that time, you were at Huarong. I believe your life was also extremely important for starting a business or making a turnaround.
Absolutely, absolutely. I think the whole Guangdong market economy has changed a lot of people's minds. Yes, I started working at a young age. Then I made the first 500 yuan, 1,000 yuan, 2,000 yuan in my life.
What kind of work was that?
I went to the computer city to buy a computer. One of the bosses asked me if I had a brother who could install a computer. I said, 'If I find one, can you let me do it too?'
It wasn't in Gangding, was it?
It was in Gangding. Taipingyang Computer City. It's still like that now. There's still... but the business should be much worse than it was back then.
I'm shocked. Because when I was in college, it was still there. But a few months ago, I came back to Guangzhou. I was also surprised. I said, 'I want to go back there and take a look.' I was scared — it's still like that. There's still... but definitely not as it was back then. It was too — oh my god — it was very impressive. It was a bit like when I went in today to see those planes.
When I was on a part-time job in 1996, one day a computer sold to someone else for 3,000 yuan. Of course it's the company that makes money, not me, but you know, for a college student, the impact... you feel like you've earned a year's worth of living expenses. In fact, it was a strong stimulus for me throughout university, including this work. The stock of Yaxing was very good. In fact, I think I have done a lot of jobs, I have met a lot of different people, especially students or workers from all over the country. And then I did different businesses, made some small money. I think the most important thing for a person is that you have to open your eyes. Secondly, you are willing to practice, because there are a lot of things you don't know.
Do you want to fly? Is it easy to fly?
But it's hard to answer whether it's easy to fly, because it's different for different people. Some people will fly as soon as they get on the plane. Some people may learn for several years. So I think it's most important to practice.
Did you practice this since you were a child?
I couldn't do it since I was a child. I started in college. I did two things in college: practice and speaking. I didn't speak before. I went to your place in college. I didn't know how to talk before, so I went to your place in the university, and I took a few classes outside the school, and I went to your place to learn how to speak.
What did you learn from the speech class?
The speech class was very simple — a small class, about a dozen people from different schools. The teacher would go up and talk about how to speak. I've forgotten the specifics now. But when you finish talking, you don't go back to do homework — you go up and talk in front of the class. Everyone did it. Then I went up at the very beginning. I didn't dare. I was afraid of the number of people watching. You won't be afraid if you talk too much. So when I arrived, I think my accent... the first time I spoke was with my accent. Later, the second impact was doing sales at construction sites. This was from installation to sales. The third impact was when I started my business. Later, Lei Jun was our chairman. He happened to come to see us. Then we just held an annual meeting. I said, 'Can you help us talk for 10 minutes at the annual meeting?'
2008 to 2009. Then he said, 'Since you don't talk to me later...' He took a piece of paper and wrote three sentences. He talked for an hour. And then I felt like a person... In fact, the tongue is really trained. It's not that it's natural. You should not be afraid of the camera. Don't be afraid of the spotlight. Don't be afraid of other people's doubts. You just go up and talk slowly. Then there's a simple principle: whether it's Chinese or English or other languages, have courage. Don't be afraid of other people laughing. It's okay. Mr. Lei also provided that extra stimulus.
Have you told him about this?
When did you get to know him? You're from the same hometown, right?
Yeah, he's also from Hubei. Which year did I get to know him? I was with him in 2006. It was because of the investment in UC. At that time, he had just finished with Yiqu, and then he did angel investment, mainly in Hulong, including the investment in UC and YY.
Did YY invest in you too?
YY did not. YY's Li Xueling — sometimes there is fate in the world. I met Ding Lei, and because there was no office, Ding Lei said, 'I have an office that I don't use, you can sit there first.' Anyway, there were only seven people in your company. It was in Guangzhou. I went to Ding Lei's office that is not commonly used. There was also an office next to this office that is not commonly used. There was a person who was the editor-in-chief of NetEase, called Li Xueling. Later, Li Xueling went out to start his own business and did YY. Later, Li Xueling introduced Yu Yongfu and Lei Jun to me. Sometimes the world is like this.
Then Yu Yongfu joined you. Mr. Lei invested in UC. I've heard a rumor — I don't know if it's true or not — but I want to confirm with you first, that the name UC has some very humorous origins.
Yeah, our first UC company was called YouFly — what is it called? You Can Fly. At first we thought the Internet was not called 'you can surf,' it was 'you can surf.' And then we said 'you can fly.' So we called it You Can Fly, called UC. There was also a UC at Sina. There was also a UC in Guangzhou. We had been saying for a long time — I said I was from UC. Others said you did a good job at Sina. Is it different from them? With Sina — Sina had a chat software at that time, also called UC. It's two different things from the browser. It's a chat software. This also has our Sina. Yes, Chen Jun is also a very popular chat tool, similar to QQ.
Oh, I think I've seen this before. But in the end, the impression is that there is only the UC Browser left. This is indeed used a lot.
We were the first ones to send it later.
Is it the addition of Mr. Lei's investment and Yu Yongfu that made UC bigger?
Yes, I think they were all very strong at that time. A company needs more powerful people to master it and to open it up.
At that time, you just let Mr. Yu take the lead.
Yes, when Yongfu came in, he said I was the deputy manager. He said, 'Who is your CEO?' He said, 'I want to talk to the CEO about investment.' At first, we didn't tell him. In fact, there was no CEO. Our initial idea was that if I talked about something important, maybe I was wrong. I could go back and say that my CEO didn't agree.
Oh, that's clever. Everyone can learn from this.
Later, Yongfu's investment didn't succeed. He thought this company was good, and we liked him very much, so we asked Yongfu to be the CEO. The height, pattern, and direction of the whole company were completely different.
But your decision is also very powerful. This is a company that I created myself, but I decided to let others be the boss.
Because the company being finally successful is the most valuable. You make it small, it's all your company, but it's not enough.
In fact, we all know that you are already... we don't use the word 'financial freedom.' Actually, you could take a break when you're about 36 years old. But in the end, you still have to do it. I remember, if I look at the information — if I'm not sure, you correct me — after the sale of UC, you took a break for a while, right?
Yes. But UC was sold to Alibaba. I stayed at Alibaba for three years.
You've been there for three years?
I've been there for three years. In fact, I think everyone at the beginning, whether it's work or entrepreneurship, your initial idea is to make more money.
When you make a little more money, you have to think about your next step or the next part of your life.
I was still very young at that time. I was in my thirties. So I think after those three years, I had been thinking for about two years. I think life is very short. You can't rest. You must make yourself happy in those decades. My happiness is to challenge myself to do things. Because I am a technical product manager — to make some technology products, to serve more people, and make different products, like flying cars, like robots, like unmanned vehicles. I hope to make products that differentiate and innovate. I think that may be my happiest thing. So later I decided — I think I still have a lot of dreams and ideas. Then there are still several decades to go. It's better to do them slowly and gradually, with the ability.
Then the next one — sold to Alibaba.
Yes. I started my business in 2004 and sold it to Alibaba in 2014. In 2014, I moved to Alibaba in 2017 to be the head of a business group. In August of 2017, I joined XPeng as a full-time employee. At first, I thought that the next generation of XPeng was the combination of large hardware and smart software. I thought that the next ten years would see this change starting in 2014. In fact, it doesn't have to be next year, but by 2020, many people have already seen this kind of change in electric cars. So I think the important thing you just said is that the trend is very important.
It's a bit scary to see this trend in 2014. Where was Tesla?
Tesla was growing. SpaceX — no, Tesla should be 2003. Elon Musk also invested in Tesla, and then entered Tesla and joined Tesla. When he actually joined, it seemed to be 2008-2009. But it's even earlier. This is true. Many hardware companies have to be stored and accumulated for 10 to 20 years. But software or Internet companies have been strong for two or three years. Different industries, different logic. But after I finished a mobile Internet company, I think the next era comes from the integration of large hardware and large software. You see, the cost of our current research and development is almost 1.5 billion yuan. We do hardware, software, design, manufacturing, and even participate in a little bit of data research and development in the physical world. These abilities are only used to do one thing in the original hardware company: make good software.
Because you invested in Peng. But why did you call it Peng?
At first, it wasn't called Peng. At first, it was called Chengzhi Auto. At that time, our team said that there was an Apple, and we had an Orange. Didn't that conflict with DD? Then, Chengzhi couldn't get the trademark. Then one day, they took a lot of official names and said that one of them was Xiaopeng. We all wanted to register. At that time, I didn't think it through, and I felt that Xiaopeng should be the most impossible at the end. Later, all of them didn't succeed, only Xiaopeng succeeded. Finally changed the name. Later, the partner of Alibaba asked me to talk to him.
He said, 'Look, you can invest in others, but you can't put your name on it. In fact, this is a good name for your company. Now you're flying and doing this and that.' Over the past year, no one has said that Xiaopeng has a problem with its name. From 2014 to 2020, countless people have suggested that I change my name. A lot of people say that if you change this Xiaopeng to a better name, for example Kunpeng, for example, your sales will at least double. I said that one day a company named after a Chinese person can go global, and it's a company that everyone likes. Maybe we can reach that.
For you, there are indeed a lot of companies outside. Especially in Germany.
Ford in the United States.
Like Toyota, it's also famous. Look at the biggest few. Then in 2014, the investment came, and three years later you joined XPeng. Was Mr. Lei in charge of this, Lei Jun?
Yes. I think this is also very magical. In fact, he has always been — from the UC stage, your relationship has also been very good. He has always been your investor. He has always supported me. Then when I have the ability, I will also support Lei Jun.
Why did he go out and do it in the end? How did you communicate with him?
I think the information I know is that probably in 2020, he was hesitating whether to do A or B or C. Then I and Li Bin, these two bad friends, all fooled him into doing cars.
Then you are the ones who advised him to do it.
We may have gained a little weight.
How did you think of this? Why do you want to train yourself a competitor?
From my point of view, in the car industry, it's better to have more friends. And I think Xiaomi's genes are also very good at making hardware. So Xiaomi finally went to make cars and added a mobile phone. This is really a pattern.
You just said this is a pattern. In fact, it's better for you to judge the trend.
I think he used that word very well — friendship. Say, make our friendship a little more. I think it's very good. He does have a big pattern. One is the pattern of global car competition. There is also a style that requires technology and technology in the future. It must be difficult for you to fight alone. First of all, to be in a group because there are troops. In fact, this has already happened. In fact, everyone has seen this. The new forces of China are very strong. It is indeed very strong in the world. The technology they have accumulated now, the entire production line, the entire talent — so many cars have been built over the years, so many first-line research talents, technical talents. I think it's useful for him to do robots in the future. Maybe he does have this pattern. But I can't deny that the popularity of talent in this industry is very large.
I don't know. This is what he has to worry about. This is a very painful thing for entrepreneurs. On the one hand, you have made the market bigger. On the other hand, talent has indeed appeared. But will this talent be with you? Not necessarily. So this requires your confidence.
The car industry is not like the Internet. The Internet is the winner takes all. I think the car industry should be close to the giant model in the next 5-10 years. Maybe it's a giant with ten fingers. Cars — yes. But it can't make the winner take all. In 5-10 years, everyone will see this change. I think...
How many fingers do you have now?
Now Chinese cars are large — at least three to four hands. In addition to the whole world, there may be three hands in the world. That is to cut down to five hands in the end. But in fact, the main thing I say is that there is a scale. Different people have different views on the scale. There are a lot of regional or commercial cars or cars in different directions. There will definitely be a lot of cooperation, a lot of car companies. But I say that the scale of the mainstream market will be less than that. This is my opinion. This will happen in five to ten years.
So today's competition may be for five to ten years without rolling down the foundation.
In 2004, we established it for ten years. In the tenth year of the company, we launched a model called 'MONA.' The MONA series of models is relatively successful. On the one hand, it can be seen from the exterior design. On the other hand, it can be seen at a relatively close price. For example, at a price of more than 100,000 yuan, between 100,000 and 150,000 yuan, it can achieve what we call high-level assisted driving. That is to say, you are with a car worth 400,000 to 500,000 yuan — its assisted driving capability is the same. It is also something that XPeng has always wanted to do. This is called technological equality. It shouldn't be said that you buy a car worth 400,000 to 500,000 yuan and you can enjoy assisted driving with a lot of hardware. A good car at a good price — maybe the car is cheaper, but its technology ability is the same. Maybe this is part of the Internet's foundation — to do technological equality and technological prosperity.
I just wanted to ask — because I just took that car, I can't believe it's a 150,000 yuan car. When I don't drive my own car, I don't usually care about this. I just heard about the competition — it's too good to do it yourself. Cheap and ridiculous.
We are now doing a good look, a good drive, smart, and the functions inside are easy to use, and the price is suitable. In fact, the power of this car is not bad. The power of the car is not bad. So you have to do all these points well, and at the same time be able to go global in high quality. You see, this car supports China's five-star safety, supports Europe's five-star safety, supports Australia's five-star safety, and supports all of them.
I'm a little curious about autonomous driving. For example, you said that there will be ten giants with a large scale — what do you think will be the impact of driving in the future?
I think the business logic of cars in the past is that the brand is good and the scale is large. This is not the case in the Internet. Many companies in the Internet are strong from network efficiency and the innovation of commercial models. Because of the network efficiency, it can be heavy and then add the innovation of commercial models. If a car's hardware is stronger, it is more likely to have a large-scale effect. If a car's software is stronger, it is more likely to have a large-scale network effect. So in the future of cars, I think that the first step of a smart car is to be able to drive without people. The second step is to be a robot. The company that has done these steps is often a software company. And the software company wants to make hardware, which is very difficult. Different machines. Now we can see that some companies only use this software. They sell it to you and find a lot of hardware companies to cooperate. In the past, many people have asked whether the car is going to be in Apple mode or Android mode. Some platform partners. I think both computers and phones have Android. Because its hardware is relatively small. Car software is very complicated. Not only are there autonomous driving software, there are also motion control software, there are also self-driving software, there are a lot of software. These software are connected to 20,000 to 30,000 parts — a machine has 20,000 to 30,000 parts.
So your judgment is that there will only be Apple models. From another perspective, have you ever seen China's BAT giving software to foreigners?
Impossible. Because only in your own hardware, your own software, your own manufacturing, your own design, you can integrate it together, you can make a huge new innovation. Today we see the innovation of the car — I think it's just the beginning. If there are ten such giants, according to this country, they are also giants of software autonomous driving at the same time. I think most of them will be. So this profit model — selling cars, selling cars and collecting subscription fees — there will be more. There will be more.
Because I'm just thinking — I'm not in this industry at all — do you think the car industry or the transportation industry has changed?
I think at the same time — you see, in this world, generally speaking, from the point of view of cars, it is part of transportation. There are mainly two types of cars. The first one is to transport people. The second one is to transport goods. Let's go back to transporting people. There are several ways to transport people. The first one is to release the hands, the steering wheel, the feet, the brake, the throttle, and the eyes. Once it is released, it is safe, because safety is the first thing. If it is released safely, what does it mean? The traffic efficiency of all people will be increased, because there will be no traffic jams. Everyone will pass very quickly and there will be waves. The second one is that there will be no traffic accidents. So it becomes more efficient and safer. It will cause a new representative — old people can go out, children can go out by themselves. Because in the past, during the peak season, it was not convenient for old people and children to go out. Because it is safer. When old people and children go out, the radius of life for humans is larger. Now our life radius may be 15 kilometers around the family.
So do you think this demand will increase?
It will definitely increase. That is this... yes.
Yes, the question I just said — actually, I also want to ask you to interrupt me at any time. We are actually looking for one more question. I just want to ask: is the demand for physical transportation going to increase, and then where will it go? For example, you are building a car — will the car sell more? Or is it that our friend controls this? We also do this robot taxi, we do this car fleet, this autonomous driving car fleet. The demand for this will increase. I think both of these points will increase — that is, we can need more cars to go to more scenarios to create a wonderful life.
Second, RoboTaxi is a tool that is sold to Chinese and global partners. They are responsible for local operation. We provide hardware, software, and service solutions. We share with them. If this is the case, we can get more profit from both sides. It increases the utilization rate of a car. For example, you buy a car and drive it up and down. The rest of the time you stop at the parking space. But if RoboTaxi can drive 16 hours a day, there is no problem. So from another angle, I think that the change in travel and life will lead to traffic changes, consumption changes, and the living environment and working environment will change.
In fact, we used to have a saying when we were young: if you want to get rich, you have to build the road first. Now China's roads, I think, are the absolute best in the world. But what about the roads in the air in the future? What about the roads on the water? What about the roads on the mountains? This is low altitude. The roads between cities — to improve road traffic efficiency, a lot of places are blocked.
This is low altitude. The roads between cities — to improve road traffic efficiency, a lot of places are blocked.
We just discussed this. In fact, there is a hidden premise — that is, complete autonomous driving. You think it can be achieved?
Is 100% autonomous driving that does not need human intervention?
How many years has this trend been?
I do not know. I think technically, in 2028, just get to the technology of L4. 2028. I think 2030 — this is large-scale L4, and it is cheap, completely feasible. But there are some social problems with policy, laws, and social psychology. But I think there will be more and more cities that will test it. Now in China, in the United States, in the world, and in many places, they are trying to test the RoboTaxi. We are also in Guangzhou.
Yes, we just got a picture of the Guangzhou RoboTaxi. Congratulations, I've made history today.
So we will do a very good job in Guangzhou in the next year or more. Do a demonstration. I hope everyone will come to Guangzhou. A lot of small XPeng RoboTaxis will help you drive. Then we will do a verification of this technology in Guangzhou.
Is it convenient for you to say whether it cooperates with some operator?
We operate it ourselves in Guangzhou. But in all other cities, including overseas, we are all — for example, you are in a small city overseas, maybe only 100 cars, like the car you just took, can be used as a robot car. Then you are responsible for operating it yourself. For example, charging, cleaning every day. Then it will help you — these 100 are equivalent to what you can think of as four wheels of a robot that can help you make money. So good technology, reliable technology, safety technology, and cost-saving technology are the best. Why do we put autonomous driving on the global market next year? And then on this basis, we take the robot technology around the world. And the travel abroad is actually much worse than China. If you make this safe and reliable, because you get in a car, it doesn't have a driver you don't know. Sometimes it will make you feel safer. Because it's a machine, it's obedient, safe, rest assured. It's really two generations ahead in experience. I think there are some big cities in Europe where it's hard to call Uber. So if it uses this technology directly, it will directly improve the experience by two generations. So I really think it's not far in terms of specific areas, but it's normal in terms of the overall situation.
Let's talk about the business model. In your opinion, it's one of the ten fingers that XPeng will have to sit in the field of making cars and selling cars. This kind of vehicle operation and traffic transportation must also be a big part.
AI is our core. We hope to be the most powerful physical AI company. Physical AI companies need two strong abilities. The first is the hardware environment of the physical world. The second is the physical AI, which is different from the digital AI model we traditionally see. The AI in the digital world, you can think of it as the brain of the human race. But it has no hands, no feet, and no mouth. But the AI that interacts with the physical environment with hands, feet, and mouth is called physical AI. So we firmly hope that we will move forward as the strongest.
I've been thinking about it for a long time. It seems that there are not many companies that do it. Very few. Yes. Cars make them robots. Humanoid robots make them robots. In the future, flying cars are also flying robots. They can talk. They understand you. They help you free your hands, free your feet, even free your brain. They can talk to you freely. They can even help you do a lot of things.
You said the car went downstairs, you said you parked the car yourself. He said, oh, you may not have enough power where you go. He said he would charge himself. We just talked about the production, manufacturing, transportation, and autonomous driving of cars. You can probably give me — because it's also a listed company, so there's not much privacy. So I asked him directly: how many kinds of profits are there in the business model?
I think the business profit in cars — the main thing is definitely the sales of cars. I think the second is the car service market, including maintenance, finance, insurance. I think there will be many other examples in the future of cars. Technology cooperation and authorization — that is, Chinese cars going to the world, there will be a lot of ability to exchange. Technology cooperation authorization is also one of them.
Our show is actually sponsored by Volkswagen. I am very surprised. I said, why can I talk to Mr. He about this Volkswagen sponsorship for so long? Is Volkswagen also our shareholder?
Volkswagen is also your shareholder. So there will be such cooperation in the future.
We have a lot of cooperation with Volkswagen. Autonomous driving for them.
So these ten giants — actually, in the future, these ten giants may still look like this. It may not be like this. Maybe there are five in China, there are five in the world. It is such a ten-giant structure. They may have shareholder relationships, they have technical authorization, some are strong in A, some are strong in B.
It must be this process. Because the car is too much in the foreground. Where is the traffic accident? Where did the war cause the sea to be blocked? It has something to do with cars. Where did the natural disaster — earthquake, flood — have something to do with cars? Where did the policy change have something to do with cars? Where did the shortage have something to do with cars? Because there are 30,000 parts in cars. There are 70% of these 30,000 parts. So it involves a lot of industries. So it is indeed managed by a lot of industries.
Let's talk about the power of technology. Then, for example, your RoboTaxi — what do you think about it?
I think all of these will be integrated into AI software or services in the future. As I just said, for example, RoboTaxi does not operate by itself. For example, if you use 50 autonomous vehicles to operate in a town in a city, I may divide your income into a small proportion as a provider of technology and service. This is a service fee for technology, which we hope to continue to create next year and the year after that. This business model can start to run. At this time, more local partners will say, 'I'll buy a few dozen cars.' Because there are a lot of small towns that are very small, a few dozen cars will be enough. It can do the operation of unmanned vehicles. In fact, this is similar to the Internet of Things scale effect.
There used to be a way of thinking, including what many investors would think. Autonomous driving is also a kind of software, and data collection is also necessary. Does it mean that the more you step on the gas, the easier it is to use, and the more people use it, the more you step on it, and the more it can form this flywheel? This is called double-sided network effect, also called flywheel effect. Then it will lead to: the better you are, the more people use it, the more people use it, the more people can pay for it, and the more people can pay for it, the better you are. But what I want to say is that in this current situation, it seems that there are too many competitors, even if they are self-driving. It has already started to lose face.
Oh, it has already started to lose face.
Obvious loss of face. What do you think you can do in the market?
Our goal must be to be number one. If you don't have the heart to be number one, you may always do it after the top ten.
Can I put it this way? Even if XPeng doesn't make the top one in this system, but as long as it is in the top ten, it also has the effect.
You can say that. But because we are also making cars, so the car — I just said a very interesting point of view. You want the software to be good, you have to do hardware, and autonomous driving is only a part of the software. It needs hardware support. Even if you have autonomous driving software and hardware, it's not the future of a car and a machine. It's just what I was talking about — a small part between the big brain, the middle brain, and the small brain. There are a lot of other software and other hardware combinations. So, in the future of cars, hardware and software have to be able to do it. Otherwise, you can't build this ability. Of course, I hope that we will become an absolute leader. So next year, we are looking forward to going to the same track and the same area with our friends overseas to see who is better.
This is the happiest thing about being a technician. You say you are good. You go to the global market and compete with good people from around the world.
