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Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng Motors aims to have software and hardware needed for fully autonomous driving in place by 2025.
Xpeng aims to achieve a high-level of unmanned driving by 2025 through the integration of its self-driving robotaxis with continuous upgrades in its automotive hardware, said Wu Xinzhou, vice president of the carmaker’s self-driving department.
The firm’s smart driving assistance system will be expanded to cover all scenarios from next year to 2025, allowing the firm to enter the self-driving stage from 2025, Wu said. At the moment, the system is capable of handling single scenarios.
Xpeng plans to start testing its Robotaxis next year or the year after in Guangzhou city, in tandem with advances in the firm’s driving assistance system, Wu said.
The firm’s latest sports utility vehicle, the G9, has obtained a license to conduct self-driving tests on open roads and it should be able to secure the permit by upgrading the vehicle’s software and does not need to change any hardware, a first for the auto industry.
When XPeng unveiled the G9 in September, the company said it would come equipped with XPeng’s new advanced driver assist system (ADAS), the XNGP, which combines XPeng’s Highway Navigated Guided Pilot (NGP) and City NGP to automate certain driving functions in both highway and urban driving scenarios.
The XNGP is good enough to lay the groundwork for a robotaxi network, and the G9 can help that network scale, said Wu.