Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng is next to the company’s P7 electric sedan as he addresses the media at the 2020 Beijing Motor Show
Evelyn Cheng | CNBC
Guangzhou, China – Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer Xpeng Motors has announced a new autonomous driving feature designed to work on highways as it increases its challenge to national rivals as well as Tesla.
The feature, called the Navigation Guide Pilot or NGP, will allow the company’s flagship P7 sedan to automatically change lanes, accelerate or slow down or overtake cars and enter and exit highways.
It is part of the next generation of Xpeng XPILOT 3.0, the so-called advanced driver assistance (ADAS) which the company expects to launch in the first quarter of this year. ADAS refers to a system with some stand-alone functions but where a controller is still needed.
Xpeng is one of China’s emerging electric vehicle companies that aims to advance in the country’s growing market as it fights other advanced ones such as Nio and Li Auto, as well as the American electric car giant Tesla.
Mass deliveries of the Xpeng P7 sedan, a direct rival to Tesla’s Model 3, began last June. Xpeng delivered 27,041 vehicles in 2020, more than double a year ago.
The NGP is a challenge for Tesla’s autonomous ADAS called autopilot. One of the autopilot functions is called Navigate on Autopilot, which has similar functions to Xpeng’s NGP.
Chinese electric vehicle companies want to add more autonomous functions to their cars. Nio has its own system called NIO Pilot.
How the Xpeng system works
A driver will need to watch a safety video before they can activate the Xpeng road driving feature. Drivers must keep their hands behind the wheel while using the autonomous driving functions of the vehicle.
Users enter their destination on the map. The car will begin to perform some of the functions such as changing lanes on its own.
Drivers will receive a warning when they have to manually control the car, for example, in adverse weather conditions or in a traffic accident.
Xpeng says his cars are equipped with 14 cameras and other critical sensors. Nvidia’s Xavier computer system powers XPILOT 3.0.
The road driving feature will be available in the premium version of the P7 and only available to customers in China.