Tesla rival Xpeng presses ahead with driver-assist rollout in China, Europe

[beijingwalker]

Tesla rival Xpeng presses ahead with driver-assist rollout in China, Europe​

PUBLISHED THU, OCT 26 20231:07 AM EDT

KEY POINTS

• Chinese electric car company Xpeng said this week it plans to roll out driver-assist technology in Europe by the end of next year.
• The company also said it remains on track with plans to expand the tech to 50 cities in China by the end of this year.
• Xpeng co-president Brian Gu claimed the company is seeing “an inflection point” in China for consumer adoption of driver-assist technologies.

An Xpeng G9 electric vehicle at the Xpeng pavilion in the Open Space area during the Munich Motor Show (IAA) in Munich, Germany, on Sept. 5, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

BEIJING — Chinese electric car company Xpeng said this week it plans to roll out driver-assist technology in Europe by the end of next year, and remains on track with plans to expand the tech to 50 cities in China by year-end.
U.S.-based Tesla’s version for city streets — called Full Self-Driving Beta — has yet to be released in China and it’s unclear how many of the driver-assist features are available in Europe.

Deployment of such tech is subject to regulatory approval.

Xpeng needs time to test and localize its driver-assist software in Europe, Brian Gu, honorary vice chairman of Xpeng’s board of directors and co-president, told reporters Wednesday. He declined to provide details on planned availability.

He said the startup is cooperating with EU regulators on their recently announced probe into subsidies at Chinese electric vehicle companies, and the company is taking a “stringent approach” to comply with Europe’s GDPR data protection rules.

In China, Xpeng said in June it could start rolling out its tech, called XNGP, for drivers on some major expressways in the capital city of Beijing.

That followed the company’s release of urban scenario driver-assist tech for users in Shanghai in March, after an earlier rollout in Shenzhen and Guangzhou.

The system, available to users of certain car models for a fee, claims to make driving easier with software that assists with smooth braking at traffic lights, turning at intersections and other tasks on city streets.

More than 90% of users in Beijing with the driver-assist feature have turned it on, Xpeng’s Gu said.

He claimed the company is seeing “an inflection point” in China for consumer adoption of driver-assist technologies. Gu said the tech was the most important feature consumers wanted for the 2024 version of the G9 SUV.

The car, released in late September, starts at 263,900 yuan ($36,060), and costs 289,900 yuan ($39,613) with XNGP driver assist. The price for Tesla’s Model Y in China also starts at 263,900 yuan.

Xpeng claims the software makes driving easier by helping with smooth braking at traffic lights, turning at intersections and other tasks on city streets.

Other Chinese electric car models, including from Huawei and Nio, are increasingly making their driver-assist capabilities a selling point.

Xpeng has generally lagged its Chinese competitors in terms of monthly deliveries. But deliveries picked up to 15,310 vehicles in September, from 13,690 units in August.

Sales for Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y vehicles made in China were down 12% from August to September, according to China Passenger Car Association data.

Elon Musk’s electric car company last week reported a 22% decline in gross profit for the third quarter from a year ago — its first miss on both earnings and revenue since 2019.

Tesla rival Xpeng presses ahead with driver-assist rollout in China, Europe

Chinese electric car company Xpeng said this week it plans to roll out driver-assist technology in Europe by the end of next year.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Menthol]

90% of users turn on the driver-assist feature...

Me too.

That is the main reason why I buy the car instead of traditional car.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

XPeng starts removing HD maps from Tesla FSD-like feature in China | TechCrunch

XPeng is often called the Chinese challenger to Tesla for its efforts to bring advanced driving capabilities to its electric vehicles. It's now getting a

techcrunch.com

XPeng starts removing HD maps from Tesla FSD-like feature in China​

XPeng is often called the Chinese challenger to Tesla for its efforts to bring advanced driving capabilities to its electric vehicles. It’s now getting a step closer to its American counterpart as it gets rid of high-definition mapping in its XNGP assisted driving feature, its equivalent to Tesla FSD.

Tesla FSD famously does not rely on HD maps, which contain many details such as lane lines, curbs, traffic signs and more. The use of this pre-computed information, combined with sensors like radars and cameras, can help autonomous driving cars to understand the road better and thus drive more safely.

Tesla not only opted out of HD maps but also made the controversial move to eliminate lidars, the powerful light detection and ranging method that’s a staple sensing technology in the development of self-driving cars.

XPeng still uses lidars, but it’s taken on a technical challenge by rolling out map-free XNGP in 20 Chinese cities soon, the company announced at its tech day on Wednesday. Being map-free means XPeng’s urban assisted driving feature can drive anywhere, unlimited by where maps have been made or road condition updated. By the end of this year, the map-free XNGP will be available in 50 Chinese cities.

It’s an interesting time to witness XPeng’s tech development progress as the company transitions into a new era after losing its former head of autonomous driving to Nvidia.

Other autonomous vehicle teams in China are also racing to remove the expensive HD maps. Deeproute, which has shifted its focus from developing robotaxis to assisted driving for mass-produced passenger cars, unveiled its map-free autonomous driving solution in March.