Gasgoo Munich- Recent reports suggest Li Auto is launching a fresh round of organizational restructuring. The company's R&D arm will be reshaped into three main groups—base models, software entity, and hardware entity—with the key move being the dismantling of its autonomous driving team.
Image Source: Li Auto
Specifically, Lang Xianpeng, the former senior vice president of autonomous driving, will take charge of the hardware entity to oversee robotics research, reporting to President Ma Donghui. He will no longer oversee autonomous driving. Meanwhile, the autonomous driving team will be folded into the software entity group led by Gou Xiaofei, vice president of smart space.
Following the shakeup, Gou will now coordinate development for both the smart cockpit and smart driving functions, reporting to Ma Donghui. The base model team will be led by Zhan Kun, who will oversee the integration of VLA and proprietary chips, reporting to CTO Xie Yan.
Reached for comment on January 29, a spokesperson for Li Auto confirmed the reports to industry outlet Gasgoo, stating simply: "It is true."
In fact, founder and CEO Li Xiang had already signaled this shift during the third-quarter 2025 earnings call, explicitly stating that "embodied intelligence" would become a core capability for the company over the next decade.
Separately, on January 26, Li Xiang called an impromptu all-hands meeting that lasted nearly two hours. The focus wasn't on the automotive business, but rather the company's strategic positioning in artificial intelligence.
Li emphasized that Li Auto aims to join the rare ranks of companies capable of developing base models, chips, operating systems, and embodied intelligence simultaneously. He also plans to double down on the "embodied intelligence" brand positioning. Furthermore, he confirmed for the first time that Li Auto will "definitely" develop humanoid robots alongside its automotive business, aiming to bring a product to market as soon as possible.
To navigate this new competitive landscape, Li Xiang outlined plans for a fresh overhaul of the R&D structure. Teams will be realigned into base models, software entity, and hardware entity units, with both automotive and robotics operations falling under the hardware entity umbrella.
