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Xpeng to sell a robotaxi in 2026, and the company’s self-driving vision

3 min to read
Jul 29, 2024 4:36 PM CEST
Mark Andrews

Xpeng plans to launch a robotaxi in 2026. While the plans are similar in many ways to those of Tesla, there is at least one fundamental difference: Unlike Tesla, Xpeng will not operate the taxis itself.

Recently He Xiaopeng, the CEO of Xpeng, has been talking about both the robotaxi plans and his vision of self-driving cars.

Xpeng has positioned itself as one of the leaders in smart driving technology within China. The company was the first to mass produce a model fitted with Lidar, the P5. Since then, all Xpeng models have been equipped with Lidar. However, this now appears to be changing. Leaked details of the Mona M03 say the top-of-the-line Max version will not have Lidar and will purely use a vision-based system for its XNGP smart driving capability, while still using dual Nvidia Orin X chips with 508 TOPS computing power. Similarly, it is believed that the forthcoming Xpeng P7+ will also abandon using Lidar.

Weibo tweet from Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng talking about self-driving and Xpeng’s robotaxi plans

In June, He visited the US and filmed himself testing the Tesla FSD system. He noted that the current Tesla FSD system has made a qualitative leap from previous Tesla self-driving capabilities, going as far as saying that they were completely different systems. The system uses end-to-end neural network algorithms and no longer relies entirely on map data.

He believes that such an approach using end-to-end technology works well with L2 or L3 autonomous driving but is unsuitable for L4, where he believes that the end-to-end technology path must be coupled with large model data.

This shows the likely path that Xpeng will be taking for its robotaxi product, which it plans to launch in 2026. We can also assume, given that the company appears to be abandoning Lidar, that the robotaxi will also take a purely vision-based approach, which will likely help bring down costs. Xpeng will focus on the development and manufacturing of robotaxis rather than their operations. The company will work with partners to promote and develop the self-driving taxi market. Given the previous cooperation with Didi, this company will likely be one of the partners Xpeng is cooperating with.

He notes that the field is experiencing rapid progress and that in about two years, the robotaxi industry will reach an inflection point with rapid adoption and commercialization. Before that, however, issues related to technical capabilities, laws and regulations, and business operations need to be resolved.

It should be noted that Baidu currently has the largest fleet of robotaxis in operation in China and that its new RT6 vehicle costs have decreased considerably from the previous 5th generation robotaxi. Baidu claims that costs have halved and that the RT6 costs 206,400 yuan (28,350 USD). As we have previously covered, many are not happy about robotaxis including drivers who fear for their livelihood. Recently Li Bin, CEO of Nio, said that the company would not involve itself with the robotaxi market.

Sources: iFeng, Dongchedi

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