Xpeng Motors Robotaxi Approved for L4: Who Could Have Imagined This 20 Years Ago? | Heart Capital PORTFOLIO

• Xpeng Motors has secured approval for intelligent connected vehicle demonstration operations in Guangzhou, allowing it to conduct L4 Robotaxi pilot services across the entire city.
• This approval means Xpeng Robotaxi now has the credentials for public demonstration operations, marking a step from technical validation toward operational and business model validation — a significant milestone in the commercial deployment of Xpeng's physical AI.
• The approval will also accelerate real-world operational validation in Guangzhou, helping refine a replicable service system and build experience for scaling Robotaxi commercialization globally and exporting integrated solutions to partners worldwide.

The Door on the Ground | Two Decades of China's Automotive Comeback

Twenty years ago, China's auto industry was still struggling to answer one question: When will we build a car with truly homegrown core technology?

Twenty years later, Xpeng Robotaxi has secured L4 demonstration operation credentials and is entering real urban mobility scenarios.

From catching up with the world to exploring the future of intelligent driving, the past two decades of China's automotive industry have been far more dramatic than we imagined.

Yan Han, founding partner of Heart Capital, has been both a participant in and witness to this history.

We previously produced the documentary The Door on the Ground, looking back at 20 years of Chinese automaking through the eyes of an early-stage investor, and documenting his journey with Xpeng Motors.

Watching this film today, it may resonate differently.

The door pushed open back then is now leading to an even broader future.

From Technical Validation to Real-World Operations

Business Model Further Validated

For Robotaxi, demonstration operations are not merely further validation of autonomous driving capabilities — they mean the product is entering real-world mobility service systems. Whether vehicles can reliably complete driving tasks is only one piece of the puzzle; equally critical is whether order response, fleet dispatch, passenger pickup, service workflows, and exception handling can all work in concert to sustain operations.

This approval creates conditions for Xpeng Youyou to validate these capabilities in Guangzhou. As operations progress, the team will refine vehicle operations and service workflows based on real travel demand, accumulating experience in vehicle utilization, dispatch efficiency, service costs, and fleet management — providing a foundation for subsequent product optimization, operational efficiency gains, and exploration of sustainable business models.

The head of Xpeng Robotaxi business stated that the team will continue advancing operational capability validation and user experience optimization. In the initial demonstration phase, Xpeng Youyou will gradually open access through invitation codes, steadily expanding service scope while ensuring safety.

Building an Operational Template in Guangzhou

Providing Landing Experience for Global Partners

Guangzhou is not only a key base for Xpeng Robotaxi R&D and mass production, but also the first city where Xpeng is exploring Robotaxi commercialization globally.

For Xpeng, Guangzhou's value extends beyond operating a local mobility service. Through real-world operations, the company aims to integrate vehicle platforms, autonomous driving software, and AI capabilities into continuously operable products and solutions, validating their applicability and operational efficiency in actual service. As demonstration operations advance, Xpeng Youyou will refine service workflows, pickup point configuration, vehicle dispatch, and cross-regional service connectivity around diverse travel needs and traffic scenarios, gradually accumulating practical experience replicable in other cities.

This aligns with Xpeng Robotaxi's clear commercial positioning. He Xiaopeng previously stated that Xpeng Robotaxi will position itself as a technology provider and ecosystem enabler, rather than directly operating large-scale offline fleets. Through vehicle platforms, autonomous driving software, and AI capabilities, Xpeng will provide integrated solutions to global partners, who will operate mobility services leveraging local resources and operational systems. Xpeng's commercial returns will come from hardware sales, technical services, and commission sharing. The goal is to gradually form replicable, scalable Robotaxi solutions that lower barriers for partners deploying such businesses in different cities.

Overseas, Xpeng Robotaxi's partnership exploration is also advancing. During the Paris Motor Show, He Xiaopeng indicated that Xpeng Robotaxi is in deep discussions with several leading European mobility platforms, with further progress expected. As global attention on autonomous mobility continues to grow, the product and operational experience accumulated in Guangzhou will become an important foundation for Xpeng to advance localized deployment with overseas partners.

Full-Stack Self-Development Plus Mature Mass Production System

Providing Technical Foundation for Scaled Deployment

The continued advancement of Robotaxi operations builds on Xpeng's long-accumulated intelligent vehicle technology and mass production capabilities. Xpeng Youyou is based on the Xpeng GX platform — China's first full-stack self-developed, mass-produced Robotaxi. It carries four self-developed Turing AI chips with effective computing power of 3,000 TOPS, and runs Xpeng's second-generation VLA large model. Through self-developed chips, large models, and AI infrastructure, Xpeng is extending the technical capabilities developed in intelligent vehicles to L4 autonomous driving scenarios, exploring a unified technical architecture to support autonomous driving products at different levels.

Compared to traditional deployment approaches requiring extensive customized development for each city, Xpeng aims to enhance Robotaxi's adaptability across different road environments and traffic scenarios through reusable model capabilities and technical architectures, providing a foundation for cross-city and cross-market deployment.

From mass-produced vehicles rolling off the line to user access opening, from road testing to demonstration operation approval, Xpeng Robotaxi is advancing along a clear business path. For Xpeng, Robotaxi is not only an application scenario extending intelligent driving capabilities to L4, but also an important exploration in converting its full-stack self-developed physical AI technology into products, services, and commercial partnerships. As technical validation progressively enters real-world operations, the Robotaxi business may open additional growth space for Xpeng beyond its vehicle business — in technology export, services, and ecosystem partnerships.

Heart Capital was founded in 2022 as a venture capital fund focused on investing in China's early-stage technology startups.

Heart Capital's team is primarily composed of founding partners and core investors from Lightspeed China Partners, alongside seasoned investors from industry. The team's past investments include MetaX (688802.SH), Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV, 09868.HK), Full Truck Alliance (NYSE: YMM), 06810.HK (06810.HK), RoboSense (02498.HK), Ambiq Micro (NYSE: AMBQ), Hanshow Technology Co., Ltd. (301275.SZ), FinVolution (NYSE: FINV), HERE (NASDAQ: HERE), as well as LandSpace, MicroNano Space, Baichuan, Yunmanman Cold Chain Logistics, World Logistics, FanDeng Reading, and Lanhu.

Rooted in China with a global outlook, Heart Capital is committed to early-stage support for entrepreneurial teams with the potential to become world-class Chinese technology companies. Heart Capital champions the value of "heart," believing technology can serve as a bridge connecting minds. Heart Capital looks forward to accompanying more young Chinese entrepreneurs onto the world stage.