XPeng, Tesla’s challenger from China, has its eye on the international market and plans to use its smart driving software as a selling point.
The Guangzhou-based electric vehicle upstart said at an event this week that it will start developing its highway-specific Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) for global users in 2024, while the international version of its next-generation, all-purpose XNGP feature will commence development in 2025.
“We look forward to enabling overseas users to access XPeng’s autonomous driving that is already available in China,” Xiaopeng He, the firm’s founder and CEO, said at the event.
NGP and its souped-up version XNGP are the equivalent of Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system Full-Self Driving (FSD). Specifically, XNGP is the catch-all marketing moniker for all of XPeng’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) features, including highway and urban driving as well as self-parking.
While initially using high-definition maps to navigate, XNGP recently removed such pre-computed information so Xpeng vehicles can drive anywhere, relying on sensors like lidars and radars that detect real-time road conditions.
Founded in 2014, XPeng first ventured out of China in late 2021, starting with Europe. It has since shipped its plugged-in SUVs and sports sedans to Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden, with Germany, France and the U.K. on the roadmap for 2024. Last year, XPeng commenced sales in Israel, joining a wave of Chinese EV firms flocking to the Middle East.
It remains to be seen how XPeng’s map-free driver-assist system performs in these unfamiliar territories.