Li Auto's autonomous driving chief Lang Xianpeng will leave the company's newly formed humanoid robot division after a brief tenure, with another senior engineer set to take over, according to a report by Chinese outlet LatePost.
Zhan Yifei, a senior autonomous driving algorithm expert at the electric vehicle maker, will assume leadership of the robotics unit and report to company president Ma Donghui, the report said. Lang's future plans were not disclosed.
Li Auto established the humanoid robotics division only weeks ago, initially appointing Lang to head the effort as part of a broader push into advanced artificial intelligence and robotics. Zhan also transferred from the autonomous driving team to the new unit at the time.
Lang joined Li Auto in January 2018 as the first employee in its autonomous driving division and rose to senior vice president, playing a central role in developing the company's in-house smart driving systems. He previously worked at Baidu, contributing to projects including Baidu Maps and autonomous driving initiatives.
During his tenure, Lang led the transition from supplier-based systems to proprietary technology, including the rapid development of Li Auto's highway Navigation on Autopilot (NOA) system. The company later expanded the capability to urban environments and shifted from reliance on high-definition maps to a map-free approach.
He also oversaw strategic moves toward end-to-end autonomous driving architectures and adoption of Vision-Language-Action models, with Li Auto rolling out advanced driver-assistance features across its vehicle lineup in recent years.
Zhan, who joined Li Auto in 2021, has worked on key components of the company's autonomous driving stack, including bird's-eye-view perception algorithms, world modeling and AI evaluation systems. Prior to Li Auto, he held roles in autonomous driving research at Baidu and Huawei.
The leadership change comes as Chinese automakers increasingly invest in robotics and AI technologies alongside electric vehicles, seeking new growth areas beyond automotive manufacturing.