On July 20th, as reported by Lei Feng Network, Lu Siyuan, who leads the AI Infrastructure Department at XPENG Motors, is set to depart. He is slated to join OpenAI to delve into the field of embodied intelligent robots. Currently, the process of handing over his work is in full swing.

Up to this point, XPENG Motors has yet to issue an official response.

According to available information, Lu Siyuan holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Southern California. He played a pivotal role in constructing XPENG Motors' unified AI infrastructure. Reports suggest that XPENG Motors has not identified a suitable successor for Lu Siyuan as of now. It is anticipated that the original team will be divided into more than three separate groups, each under the management of different leaders.

Over the past three years, XPENG Motors has undergone multiple rounds of personnel and organizational reshuffles. This process has been closely intertwined with the company's transformation from a smart electric vehicle enterprise to a physical AI technology conglomerate.

The roots of this restructuring can be traced back to October 2022. At that time, the unsuccessful launch of the G9 by XPENG Motors exposed significant flaws in product planning and organizational efficiency. In response, He Xiaopeng swiftly initiated a large - scale organizational overhaul. He established five virtual committees and three product matrices, taking personal charge of the entire process.

In January 2023, Wang Fengying, the former president of Great Wall Motors, was brought on board as the president. She assumed full responsibility for product planning and the sales system. Subsequently, XPENG Motors witnessed a wave of intense internal personnel changes. In August, Wu Xinzhou, a key figure in the autonomous driving domain, left the company and was succeeded by Li Liyun. Later, He Xiaopeng himself acknowledged that out of the 12 core executives listed in the financial report at the end of 2022, only 2 remained by September 2023.

As 2024 dawned, Wang Fengying spearheaded a new round of organizational restructuring, which impacted multiple departments, including marketing, human resources, manufacturing, and product planning. Co - founders Xia Heng and He Tao stepped down from the core management team and were conferred the title of "lifetime honor" members, marking the gradual fading of the founding team. Zhang Li, the former general manager of Great Wall Motors, took over manufacturing responsibilities from the retiring Jiang Ping, while Vice President Jiao Qingchun left the company.

In 2025, personnel changes became more concentrated on core business lines. In October, Li Liyun, the head of the Autonomous Driving Center, stepped down (he joined RoboBrain as CTO in April 2026) and was replaced by Liu Xianming, the head of the World Base Model. In December, Chen Yonghai, the vice president of the Product Center, left and was temporarily replaced by Wang Fengying.

2026 emerged as a year of structural consolidation. In February, XPENG Motors merged the Autonomous Driving Center and the Intelligent Cockpit Center into the General Intelligence Center, with Liu Xianming at the helm, reporting directly to He Xiaopeng. On April 1st, the company officially changed its name from "XPENG Motors" to "XPENG Group".

However, the exodus of core executives continued. In June, Mi Liangchuan, the head of the robotics business, left, and He Xiaopeng took over his responsibilities. The latest departure is Lu Siyuan, and his 200 - person team will be split into more than three independent teams for management.

XPENG Motors' ultimate ambition is to transition from a "smart electric vehicle company" to a "physical AI technology company". Frequent personnel changes are an inevitable cost associated with improving organizational efficiency. They reflect a recalibration of talent standards and technical routes under the new strategic framework. Nevertheless, the concentrated loss of core leaders during this critical transformation phase objectively heightens the execution risks of strategic implementation, making short - term turbulence unavoidable.