Xpeng Names Its Robotaxi 'Yoyo' and Opens Public Sign-Ups in China

Xpeng has given a name to its robotaxi effort — the Xpeng Yoyo — and has started accepting public registrations in China through an invitation-code system. The move signals a shift from proving the technology works to actually running a commercial service.

The vehicles are built in Guangzhou and rely on four of Xpeng’s own Turing AI chips paired with its VLA2.0 model. Notably, the system operates without high-definition maps and without LiDAR, leaning entirely on the company’s in-house perception and decision-making stack.

The timeline has been moving steadily. Production of the robotaxi began in May 2026, and by July the system had completed a full ride-hailing loop, including automated pick-up and drop-off. Since August, Xpeng has held approval in Guangzhou to run remote testing on designated roads with an empty driver’s seat, though rides have so far been restricted to staff paying a nominal fare.

Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng framed the company’s role as that of a technology provider rather than a fleet operator. Under this model, Xpeng earns from selling hardware and services as well as from commission-sharing arrangements, while partners handle day-to-day operations. Delegating fleet management to others keeps capital exposure lower as the business scales up. The English name, meanwhile, was reportedly chosen with markets outside China in mind.

Xpeng positions this approach as an extension of the AI stack already underpinning its driver assistance systems — a path that connects Level 2 assistance to Level 4 autonomy, which the company argues distinguishes it from dedicated autonomous-driving firms. Each car’s chips deliver 3,000 trillion operations per second, a figure Xpeng claims represents the highest in-vehicle compute available anywhere.

Whether that compute advantage translates into a viable commercial robotaxi business will depend heavily on how quickly partners can scale operations and how regulators in other markets respond.