Tesla rival Xpeng promises autonomous driving to P7 electric car owners ahead of Lunar New Year
- Xpeng says mass-produced models of its P7 sports sedan will get an over-the-air update with autonomous driving features before Lunar New Year in February
- The electric carmaker calls its Navigation Guided Pilot a level 3 autonomous driving technology
Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng Motors said it will deliver level 3 autonomous driving capabilities to its mass-produced sports sedan ahead of Lunar New Year, ramping up its competition with NIO and Tesla, which also have limited autonomous driving capabilities in their vehicles.
Level 3 automation allows drivers to safely take their attention off the road under certain conditions, but they must still be prepared to intervene when the system is unable to execute a certain task. Highways are considered ideal for L3 applications because they provide a less complicated environment without pedestrians and with cars all moving in the same direction.
Xpeng tested the beta version of its Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP), the name for its autonomous driving function, on the Xpeng P7 sports sedan while driving on highways in Guangzhou on Wednesday. Xpeng said the system will be installed on mass-produced P7 models through an over-the-air update ahead of Lunar New Year in the middle of February.
“Among all the mass-produced car models, Xpeng P7 has the best configuration for autonomous driving,” said Ma Jun, project director at Xpeng Autonomous Driving Center, in a speech on Wednesday.
Aiding the P7’s autonomous driving are the car’s 12 ultrasonic sensors, five millimetre-wave radar sensors and 14 cameras. Xpeng said NGP relies on high-precision digital maps to enable autonomous driving on all of China’s major highways. Although drivers need to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times, the P7 can still switch lanes, enter tunnels and avoid obstacles by itself once it has NGP installed.
