Li Auto Restructures R&D to Focus on Embodied Intelligence and Humanoid Robots

Li Auto recently confirmed a major restructuring of its R&D organization, reorganizing it into three core teams: Foundation Models, Software Entity, and Hardware Entity. The former autonomous driving team has been disbanded and integrated into the Software Entity team, led by Gou Xiaofei, which will oversee the joint development of intelligent cockpits and intelligent driving systems. Lang Xianpeng has transitioned to lead the Hardware Entity team, focusing on robotics development. Both executives now report directly to President Ma Donghui. The Foundation Models team, headed by Zhan Kun, is responsible for integrating Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models with in-house developed chips and reports to CTO Xie Yan. This organizational overhaul aligns with CEO Li Xiang’s previously announced strategic vision—to focus on “embodied intelligence” over the next decade and to launch humanoid robot products. On January 26, Li Xiang also held an all-hands meeting, emphasizing the company’s ambition to become one of the few global enterprises capable of simultaneously developing foundation models, chips, operating systems, and embodied intelligence technologies.