XPENG has given its robotaxi business a consumer-facing brand, XPENG YOYO, and on October 8 began taking online registrations in China from users holding invitation codes. Until now the service had been limited to the company’s own employees, so the sign-up push marks a step toward broader commercial operations.
The vehicle pairs four Turing AI chips designed in-house at XPENG, delivering 3,000 TOPS of combined compute, with the company’s VLA 2.0 driving model. It drops both lidar and high-definition maps, a camera-and-model-first stance that sets it apart from the sensor-heavy stacks many Chinese rivals still favor.
The first robotaxi rolled off the line in May, and by August regulators had cleared XPENG to run road tests in Guangzhou with no safety operator in the driver’s seat. Booking and payment were already rehearsed internally at RMB 1 per ride, so the payment rail exists and only needs opening to the public.
Chief executive He Xiaopeng has said the company will earn through three streams – services, vehicle sales and a share of commissions – while partner firms handle local fleet operations. That keeps XPENG asset-light: it builds and licenses the technology, leaving others to absorb the cost of running cars, and wagers a smaller cut of each ride on volume and on selling the hardware.
