BYD executive vice president Stella Li spoke to Business Insider at the Cannes Lions festival.
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BYD is developing its own rival to Tesla's Optimus robot, and one of the Chinese automaker's top executives wants it on the showroom floor selling cars.In an interview with Business Insider's editor in chief, Jamie Heller, at the Cannes Lions festival, BYD executive vice president Stella Li said building humanoid robots for the home and service industry will be a "huge" market for the company."My goal is to bring two or three robots to every single store. They can explain to the customer, they can have fun, they can even show the car, demonstrate the car," said Li, who predicted that the technology for robot car salespeople would be available in the next "one or two years."Li added that although she expected BYD's showroom robots to have a role in selling its cars, they would not replace the "emotional connection" provided by a human salesperson."We still need the people, but now with robotics we can make our service better," said Li, who is the Chinese carmaker's second most senior executive and the public face of the company.BYD is the latest company to join the race to manufacture humanoid robots, the global market for which is expected to grow from $3 billion in 2025 to $28 billion in 2030, per Morgan Stanley estimates.The Chinese EV giant's entry into the robotics market would see it face off once again with perennial rival Tesla. The US automaker is planning to begin production of its Optimus humanoid robot this summer, and CEO Elon Musk believes the robotic helper has the potential to be the biggest product of all time.
