China’s electric-vehicle industry is entering a new phase. After years of rapid expansion, price pressure and consolidation have pushed major automakers to look beyond cars for growth.
One of the clearest new targets is humanoid robotics. Chinese EV companies are already using robots in factories, partnering with robotics startups and building their own machines for industrial work.
From EV Factories to Robot Development
The public signal came at the 2025 CCTV New Year Gala, where 16 humanoid robots performed a Yangko dance with human dancers. The machines were Unitree robots, and while the performance was made for television, the underlying technology was built for broader use.
That broader use is already visible in China’s EV sector. Unitree’s H1 robot has moved into factories through partnerships with EV makers including BYD and XPeng. The important shift is that car companies are no longer only testing or deploying humanoid robots. Some are now trying to become robot builders themselves.
GAC Group, a state-owned carmaker, has developed the GoMate robot to install wires in cars on its production line. The company plans to mass-produce GoMate by 2026 for use in factories and warehouses. Nio, known for its battery-swap network, has partnered with UBTech while also forming its own in-house R&D team for humanoid robots.
Why EV Companies Need a New Growth Story
The move into humanoid robots is not happening in isolation. China’s EV industry grew into the world’s largest market and manufacturing base, helped by government subsidies and tech-sector investment. In 2024, 54% of cars sold in China were electric or hybrid, compared with 8% in the US.
China also became the first nation to reach annual production of 10 million “new energy vehicles” (NEVs), a category covering vehicles powered partly or entirely by electricity. That growth created large, technically sophisticated companies with money, engineering talent and public recognition.
But the same market has become punishing. From 2018 to 2023, the number of NEV companies fell from over 480 to approximately 40 through consolidation and bankruptcy. Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics indicates that profit margins in China’s automotive sector have declined from 6.1% to 4.6% since 2021.
Last year also brought large-scale layoffs at many Chinese EV companies. Competition has centered on price and technology, with companies such as BYD putting advanced autonomous-driving features into increasingly affordable models.
That pressure explains why humanoid robotics is attractive. As Yao Jia, a robotics researcher at Aegon Industrial Fund, put it: “This situation compels automakers to seek cost reductions while crafting narratives that bolster investor confidence—both of which are driving them toward humanoid robotics.”
The Technology Overlap Is Real
EV makers are not starting from zero. Cars and humanoid robots both need machines to understand their surroundings and act on that information. Sensors, algorithms, environmental perception and movement control all matter in both fields.
Some technologies developed for autonomous driving can be reused in robotics. Lidar and depth cameras can help robots navigate factory settings. XPeng’s Iron robot uses the same path-planning and object-recognition algorithms as its EVs, allowing it to move through factory environments with precision.
Battery technology is another direct link. GAC’s GoMate robot uses EV-derived battery packs to reach a six-hour run time, which makes it suitable for longer factory shifts. For an automaker, that kind of crossover can reduce the distance between existing expertise and a new product category.
The factory itself is also part of the advantage. EV companies already understand production lines, warehouse needs and the practical limits of automation. Humanoid robots aimed at industrial use can be tested against real operational problems rather than abstract demonstrations.
China’s Supply Chain Advantage
The scale of China’s robotics push is already large. According to statistics from Shenzhen New Strategy Media’s Industrial Research Institute, there were over 160 humanoid-robot manufacturers worldwide as of June 2024. More than 60 were in China, more than 30 in the United States, and about 40 in Europe.
China stands out not only for the number of manufacturers, but also for the way its EV sector is backing robotics companies. Existing suppliers, manufacturing capacity and component networks give Chinese firms a base that many competitors lack.
A report by Morgan Stanley says China controls 63% of the key companies in the global supply chain for humanoid-robot components, especially actuator parts and rare earth processing. That position may help Chinese manufacturers lower costs as humanoid robots move closer to mass manufacturing.
Unitree’s H1 is priced at $90,000, less than half the cost of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, a comparable model. Yao said the supply chain could become a major advantage “when the robots hit the point of mass manufacturing.”
The Remaining Bottlenecks
The path is not without weaknesses. The source article notes that artificial intelligence and chip development remain challenging areas, with companies beyond China’s borders such as Nvidia, TSMC, Palantir, and Qualcomm still dominant.
There are also concerns about software. Jiayi Wang, a researcher at the Beijing Institute for General Artificial Intelligence, said: “Domestic humanoid-robot research largely focuses on hardware and application scenarios. Compared to international counterparts, I feel there is insufficient attention to the maturity and reliability of control software.”
That distinction matters because a humanoid robot is not only a mechanical product. It must operate reliably, interpret its environment and perform useful tasks repeatedly. Hardware strength can help companies enter the market, but control software will shape whether robots become dependable industrial tools.
Government policy is adding momentum. The Robotics+ action plan aims to double China’s manufacturing robot density by 2025 relative to 2020 levels. Some provincial governments are also offering research and development subsidies covering up to 30% of project costs.
The result is a familiar pattern: a large domestic market, active government support, strong manufacturing capacity and aggressive private-sector competition. Wang Xingxing, the CEO of Unitree Robots, summarized the moment in a recent interview with local media: “Robotics is where EVs were a decade ago—a trillion-yuan battlefield waiting to be claimed.”