Interview

XPeng’s AI chief on VLA 2.0, robotaxis and physical AI

Xianming Liu

Head of AI, XPeng

32 minHosted by Kim IsenbergRecorded at XPeng’s Global Brand Day in Munich, July 2026

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About this conversation

XPeng wants to become far more than an electric car manufacturer. Kim Isenberg sits down with Dr. Xianming Liu, Head of XPeng’s General Intelligence Center, for an in-depth conversation about VLA 2.0, autonomous driving, world models, robotaxis and the company’s broader vision for physical AI.

Liu leads XPeng’s work on autonomous driving and artificial intelligence. Before joining XPeng, he worked at Meta and Cruise and earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Disclosure: XPeng covered travel and accommodation associated with the event and reviewed technical terminology in the subtitles prior to publication.

Topics

  • Why XPeng increasingly sees itself as an AI company rather than an automaker
  • How VLA 2.0 combines vision, language and vehicle actions
  • The current limitations of autonomous driving
  • When VLA-level driving could reach Europe
  • XPeng’s roadmap toward fully driverless robotaxis
  • Whether cars, humanoid robots and flying vehicles can share one AI foundation
  • What the West still gets wrong about Chinese AI

Chapters

  1. 0:00Introduction to Xpeng AI
  2. 1:37VLA 2.0 and scaling AI
  3. 3:58Physical AI hardware strategy
  4. 5:40Driving capabilities and data
  5. 8:57Autonomous reasoning and logic
  6. 13:04Safety, latency, and trust
  7. 16:08Development speed and roadmap
  8. 19:25Regulation and robotaxis
  9. 22:11Academia and industry progress
  10. 25:06Unified architecture strategy
  11. 29:53Future vision and outlook

Kim Isenberg is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Superintelligence, an AI newsletter published every weekday.

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