Tesla rival Chinese company: Xpeng Motors launches E-sedan with new driverless features [Apr 14, 2021]
Tesla rival Chinese company: Xpeng Motors launches E-sedan with new driverless features
Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors launched the P5 on Wednesday,14thApril 2021, a sedan with new self-driving features, as it looks to race ahead in China’s ultra-competitive auto market.
The P5, Xpeng’s third production model and second sedan after the P7, adds another competitor to Tesla’s Model 3 in China’s increasingly crowded field of electric car-makers.
The Chinese firm said it will release its pricing at the Shanghai Auto Show on Apr. 19.
In an interview with a foreign media, on Wednesday, Xinzhou Wu, vice president in charge of autonomous driving at Xpeng, said the P5 will be priced lower than the P7.
“At this price range with the features we put in the car, I think it will be quite compelling for our customers,” he said.
The P7 starts from 229,900 yuan ($35,192) after subsidies. In comparison, Tesla’s Model 3 in China starts at 249,900 yuan.
Wu said the P5 would roll out to customers in China in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Xpeng has also expanded into Norway, its first international market. Wu said that the company will expand its footprint in northern Europe and the P5 would eventually be launched there. He gave no timelines on when this might happen.
Driverless tech
Xpeng has tried to push the advancement of its self-driving features to differentiate from its competitors.
The P5 is equipped with Light Detection and Ranging technology ( Lidar). Lidar systems send out lasers that bounce back and can measure distance. Those returning beams are processed by an algorithm to create a three dimensional representation of surrounding objects — a key technology for autonomous vehicles to understand their environment.
Xpeng claims that Lidar can help the P5 distinguish pedestrians, cyclists and scooters as well as road works — even at night and under low-light conditions.
The Chinese vehicle maker also released a new version of XPILOT, its so-called advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS). This refers to a system with some autonomous features but where a driver is still required.
XPILOT 3.5 will have an updated version of a feature called Navigation Guided Pilot or NGP, which allows users to autonomously do tasks such as changing lanes or overtaking cars. Some of these features will work on city roads for the first time. Previously, NGP was just designed for highways.
Xpeng’s XPILOT is an attempt to compete with Tesla’s own ADAS system called Autopilot as well as other rivals like Nio with its Nio Pilot.
“In P7 we launched NGP … only on highways. But highway driving only occupies like 10% of peoples’ driving time. Being able to bring the technology and the capability to cities is very important to make the feature more usable and more compelling to Chinese customers,” Wu said.
China’s electric car market is expected to pick up this year with 1.9 million units expected to be sold, growing 51% year-on-year, according research firm Canalys.
Various incentives from the government, such as subsidies, have helped China become the biggest electric car market in the world. With that, a number of start-ups have grown rapidly such as Xpeng, Nio and Li Auto.
Chinese search giant Baidu teamed up with Geely to create a standalone electric car company, while smartphone giant Xiaomi announced plans to launch an electric car business.
Last year, Xpeng delivered 27,041 vehicles, more than doubling from 2019. In comparison, Tesla’s Model 3 alone sold more than 137,000 units in 2020 in China.
Wu said Xpeng has developed a lot of technology which he believes gives the company an edge.