The battle of the bots is upon us, as Xiaomi just unveiled its CyberOne humanoid robot. Given the timing of the launch, it’s safe to assume the Chinese robot is aimed at stealing the limelight from Tesla’s Optimus Bot September premiere.
Tesla has started its career as a massive disruptor in the automotive sector. To some degree, the EV maker is still a disruptor; if we believe the company’s accounts, it will continue to be one. But somehow, Tesla lost its mojo the moment Rivian released the R1T. Although the Cybertruck was introduced earlier, the long delays and frequent changes made him more like a “me too” EV than a market leader.
The same might happen to Tesla’s “forever-beta” Full Self-Driving, as many Chinese companies have shown some impressive capabilities of their own automated driving systems. The internet giant Baidu is one of them. The smaller startup DeepRoute.ai has also demonstrated proficiency in driving in city traffic, even during rush hours. The last one to enter this fray is Xiaomi, a somewhat surprising contender.
The mobile phone maker has shown ambitions well beyond its initial area of interest. Speaking at an event in Beijing, the company’s CEO, Lei Jun, announced that Xiaomi is currently running tests on 140 vehicles across China for autonomous driving. This didn’t take long, considering that the Chinese phone maker only clarified its EV ambitions last year. So far, Xiaomi has dedicated around $490 million and 500 staff to developing autonomous driving technology.
At the same event, Lei Jun made another threatening move toward Tesla, this time in the humanoid robots field. The 177-cm (5.8-ft) tall CyberOne can walk, talk and use artificial intelligence to figure out the world. While it is merely a work in progress without much use today (beyond the pleasantries you see in the video below), the CyberOne has the chance to develop into something big.
At the same time, Tesla’s Optimus Bot is still missing in action. However, Elon Musk hopes to have it finished before Tesla AI Day on September 30. Musk thinks the Optimus Bot will be the most important product his company is working on. But then again, he said the same about Full Self-Driving, so who knows?
Our Xiaomi Pilot Test vehicle has achieved a safe and smooth driving experience under various conditions. Check out the video below for some of my favorite demos! #LeiJunAnnualSpeechpic.twitter.com/5ngOtkwoWp
After his childhood dream of becoming a "tractor operator" didn't pan out, Cristian turned to journalism, first in print and later moving to online media. His top interests are electric vehicles and new energy solutions. Full profile
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