Gasgoo Munich- Xia Zhongpu, the former head of end-to-end autonomous driving technology at Li Auto, has officially joined Wujiedongli as co-founder and co-CTO. He will oversee the R&D of native embodied intelligence multimodal large models based on world models. He will also manage the continuous construction and upgrade of core infrastructure. This includes data closed-loops and cloud simulation.
Founded in 2025 by Zhang Yufeng, former president of Horizon Robotics’ intelligent automotive division, Wujiedongli focuses on building a "general brain" and "operation intelligence" for robots. The startup aims to break through critical bottlenecks in hand-eye-brain coordination. It seeks to turn embodied intelligence into widely deployable infrastructure. Wujiedongli drives general foundation model research and expert model application. The company aims to deliver integrated software-hardware solutions with high reliability to global clients.
Leveraging efficient evolution loops and engineering capabilities for complex systems, Wujiedongli is fast-tracking productization and verification. By using a unified general operation brain to drive standardized humanoid robot bodies, the company enables core capabilities to migrate efficiently across different scenarios.
Currently, Wujiedongli’s first-generation robot platform has made tangible strides in industrial manufacturing and commercial services. It is exploring real-world scenarios alongside internationally renowned partners.
Image Source: Wujiedongli
Prior to joining Wujiedongli, Xia Zhongpu held roles at Baidu and Li Auto. At Li Auto, he served as head of end-to-end autonomous driving technology. He led the team to achieve China’s first mass-production rollout of an end-to-end autonomous driving solution. This effort propelled Li Auto into the industry’s first tier. The end-to-end R&D system he established became the technical bedrock for the company’s expansion into embodied intelligence.
Before his time at Li Auto, Xia built the Apollo prediction module framework from scratch within Baidu’s L4 autonomous driving team. He also spearheaded a critical upgrade of the core decision-making and planning algorithms, shifting them to a data-driven paradigm.
Xia Zhongpu left Li Auto in mid-2025. He subsequently focused on research into world models and reinforcement learning at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He holds a Ph.D. from the CAS Institute of Automation. He is recognized as one of the early core researchers in China dedicated to world models and reinforcement learning.
With his new role at Wujiedongli, Xia will leverage his expertise in frontier model innovation and mass-production engineering. He aims to help accelerate the development of the robot "general brain." His goal is to drive technological breakthroughs in embodied intelligence and facilitate large-scale industrial deployment.
