BYD’s Xiao Di humanoid is entering Chinese showrooms, highlighting the automaker’s growing interest in robotics and interactive customer experiences for visitors while showcasing emerging technology.
BYD has begun showcasing its Xiao Di humanoid robot at Di Space experience centres in China, bringing the technology into its automotive showroom network as the automaker explores new applications for humanoid robotics and customer interaction.
The robot is approximately 5.2 feet (1.6 metres) tall and weighs about 68 kilograms. It has 66 degrees of freedom, allowing movement across its hands, arms and other joints. Xiao Di is designed to greet visitors, explain vehicle features and answer questions.
The humanoid supports Chinese and six foreign languages. Its reported capabilities also include facial recognition, emotion recognition and lip-reading, features intended to make interactions with visitors more natural and engaging.
BYD has introduced Xiao Di at its Di Space experience centres, beginning in Zhengzhou and followed by locations in Shenzhen and Shanghai. Visitors can therefore encounter the humanoid alongside BYD’s vehicles, giving the company an opportunity to demonstrate its robotics capabilities in a customer-facing environment.
The move comes as BYD faces a fourth consecutive month of declining domestic car sales, while continuing to show interest in humanoid robotics and other emerging technologies. The company has also promoted its “God’s Eye” intelligent driving platform, which uses AI, cameras, radar and sensors to improve road safety and reduce human driving errors.
The showroom deployment reflects a broader automotive industry interest in humanoid robots for manufacturing, logistics and customer service. For BYD, Xiao Di could eventually provide an interactive way to communicate vehicle information and engage potential customers.
The rollout also comes amid tighter US restrictions on advanced foreign-produced robotics. The report says the FCC added such devices, including humanoid and quadruped robots, to its Covered List on 28 July, citing potential national-security and critical-infrastructure risks.
