XPeng, the electric vehicle manufacturer based in China, has announced that it will be rolling out its Tesla FSD-like Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) to two of its flagship models, marking a significant milestone in its journey towards building its assisted driving capabilities. The company plans to release a new OTA update called Xmart OS 4.2.0 today, which will open up the first phase capabilities of XNGP, XPeng’s new generation of intelligent driving systems, to the XPeng G9 and P7i.
The announcement was made by Wu Xinzhou, the Vice President and head of the autonomous driving center at XPeng, during the company’s Mission X 2023 XNGP challenge test drive, which was concluded after six days. The XNGP system is XPeng’s new generation intelligent driving system, and it is the ultimate product form of assisted driving before achieving full self-driving, according to the company.
The XNGP system will not rely on high-precision maps and will enable an assisted driving experience from the starting parking space to the end parking space. Currently, XPeng has been testing the capability on the P5 sedan, which comes with a feature called City NGP (City Navigation Guided Pilot), and the function is already available for the P5 in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.
XPeng has achieved the first phase of capability, gaining City NGP capability for the G9 Max and P7i Max in Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou, three cities with high precision map coverage, according to XPeng. The second phase of XNGP, which the company plans to launch in the second half of 2023, will see full lane-changing, overtaking and left/right turn capabilities extended to major Chinese cities without high precision maps, while full-scenario ADAS is planned for 2024.
When the full rollout of the XNGP system is completed in 2024, it will enable full-scenario ADAS from start to stop, the company said. In other cities without high-precision map coverage, XNGP also significantly improves assisted driving capabilities, according to the company.
With City NGP available, vehicles can achieve navigation-assisted driving from point A to point B within the city in areas with high-precision map coverage in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. This includes vehicles autonomously completing cruise following, overtaking, and bypassing stationary vehicles or objects, as well as enabling stoplight recognition, autonomous lane changes, and avoidance of other traffic participants.
XPeng is not only building City NGP, but it is also working on a next-generation Highway NGP, according to Wu. The new Highway NGP is based on XNGP’s next-generation technology architecture, which offers significant improvements in security, usability, comfort, access efficiency, and interaction methods.
XPeng’s development of the new Highway NGP is progressing as expected and is set to be available to users with the XNGP system in the next major OTA update, Wu said. The company is one of the few players in the assisted driving space that mentions moving away from reliance on high-precision maps.
XPeng has built XNet, a deep visual neural network that does not rely on high precision maps and relies only on pure visual perception. It is the first and only mass-produced BEV perception system in China, according to the company. XNet is capable of fusing data collected by multiple cameras to output 4D information about dynamic targets and 3D information about static targets.
