Xpeng challenges Tesla by launching Xpilot 3.5

issued Chinese electric car startup Xpeng upgrades its semi-autonomous drive system as it looks to rise to the challenge against Tesla in China.

The company released Xpilot 3.5, the latest version of its advanced driver assistance system, or ADAS. This refers to a driving software system with some independent features. But the driver is still required.

And with Xpilot 3.5, the company is launching a feature called City NGP, which stands for Navigation Advisor. The system allows Xpeng vehicles to change lanes, speed up, slow down or overtake vehicles and enter and exit highways.

Xpilot 3.5 includes a strategic planning module with advanced forecasting capabilities that use a combination of rule-based and data-driven AI to handle city scenarios. Such as avoiding stationary objects and endangered road users, as well as changing lanes at any speed.

Previously, Xpilot 3.0 was designed only for highways. And deal with NGP at the highway level. Through it, the company was able to collect nearly 12 million kilometers of data.

But Xpeng is now releasing this feature for urban driving. The Xpilot 3.5 is available to owners of the P5, which was launched this year.

The P5 can be built with lidar, millimeter wave radar and a 3D visual perception network included. So that it can identify, classify and place multiple targets. All of which are essential features of a citywide NGP.

The upgrade will be rolled out to customers in select cities during the first half of 2022.

The company also announced details of the next generation of ADAS called Xpilot 4.0. She said she had upgraded devices running Xpilot 4.0.

Xpilot 3.5 is designed for city driving

Xpilot 4.0 gives the startup an edge in its race towards complete autonomy. The plan is to be the first to offer intelligent driving experiences powered by full scenarios, from starting to parking and everything in between.

This version of Xpilot requires a lot of computing power. So Xpeng is upgrading the hardware to version 4.0, with 508 TOPS computing power powered by two Orin-X SOC modules.

There is also an 8-pixel front camera, a 2.9-pixel side-view camera (covering front, rear, left and right vision), and an integrated and expandable field controller.

Xpilot 4.0 is scheduled to be released in the first half of 2023. Xpilot is a competitor to Tesla’s Autopilot system.

And competition in the electric vehicle market in China continues to increase. Automakers are looking to release features and vehicles to differentiate themselves and stand out in what is becoming an increasingly crowded market.

Xpeng also launched a new charger for its cars. The company says that after five minutes of charging with the new charger, the car’s battery range reaches 200 km.

Xpeng also stressed the importance of safety about ADAS, and made it clear that intelligent driving is just one aspect of that. The startup announced an upgrade to its user interface and operating system.

Xmart OS 4.0 is a full detailed display with 3D rendering of the vehicle’s surroundings. Xpeng is also rolling out version 2.0 of its voice assistant to help make driving smoother for drivers.

Just as Tesla charges for its fully autonomous driving program FSD, Xpeng charges for its Xpilot.

The company did not mention the cost of version 3.5. But version 3.0 currently costs about $3,200 and can be purchased directly or paid for with an annual subscription.

Read also: Xpeng announces a flying car that can also go on roads