This year’s Beijing Auto Show, the largest of its kind, has drawn more than 2,000 companies from 21 countries and regions, with 1,451 vehicles on display. It includes a total of 181 global debuts and 71 concept cars, hitting a new high. More than 60% of global premieres at the show come from Chinese brands, while the number of concept vehicles has reached a record level. Behind the numbers, however, a deeper transformation is underway, one defined by artificial intelligence (AI), software architecture and system-level innovation. Chinese automakers, long known for their expansive product lineups, are now using the show floor to highlight technology stacks as much as vehicles. Large standalone halls occupied by domestic brands – including BYD, Chery and Geely – reflect not only their products’ variety but also accumulated capabilities in electrification and intelligent systems.
As performance gaps in batteries, motors and electronic control systems narrow, competition is moving toward shaping technological identity and capturing user mindshare, said analysts. Artificial intelligence has become the focal point of this shift. Geely is highlighting its full-domain AI 2.0 system, while SAIC’s Roewe brand is showcasing AI-based in-car applications developed with Volcano Engine. Huawei’s automotive business also made its first appearance as an independent brand cluster, presenting multiple new models alongside its Harmony-based intelligent cockpit eco-system.
Across the exhibition, intelligent driving, smart cockpits and large language model integration are no longer isolated features, but part of unified system architectures. One of the most explicit articulations of this transition came from XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng, who outlined the company’s strategy centered on “physical AI”. XPeng’s latest model, he said, is the first Chinese vehicle designed with full hardware redundancy to meet robotaxi standards and has already obtained road testing permits in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. The company is currently conducting regular Level 4 pilot operations and plans to begin passenger-carrying tests with safety drivers later this year, targeting fully driverless operation by early 2027. He also extended the concept of physical AI beyond vehicles. XPeng is developing humanoid robots following a “commercial-first” path, with initial deployment in retail environments. The company aims to sell more than 10,000 units by 2027.
Underlying these initiatives is a broader industry view: hardware iteration is slowing, while software, particularly AI-driven capabilities, is becoming the primary driver of differentiation. The integration of AI is also reshaping the underlying computing architecture of vehicles. At a technology event two days ahead of the show, Horizon Robotics introduced its Starry chip, built on a 5-nanometer automotive-grade process. With 650 TOPS of computing power, the chip supports both intelligent driving and cockpit AI models on a unified platform, the China Daily reports.
