Recently, Xpeng Motors held a national intelligent driving launch conference in China. Among them, the most interesting thing is that Xiaopeng has set a new development goal for its own intelligent driving.
In 2024, Xpeng will achieve point-to-point intelligent driving nationwide, and benchmark Google's autonomous driving company Waymo in the intelligent driving experience in core urban areas; And from 2024 to 2025, we will realize the development and implementation of high-speed NGP and XNGP around the world.
If you take these two goals into further, it is not unambitious:
As we all know, Waymo has started demonstration operations of robotaxis in the United States. In other words, Xpeng's intelligent driving must reach the level of L4 autonomous driving technology in specific areas. In 2025, the development and implementation of high-speed NGP and XNGP will be realized worldwide, which means that the models sold by Xpeng in Europe and other overseas markets will be equipped with intelligent driving technology that is better than that of traditional car companies.
Is intelligent driving a burden for Xpeng Motors?
According to the data disclosed by Xpeng Motors, the number of R&D personnel in the field of intelligent driving has reached 3,000, accounting for more than 40% of Xpeng's R&D team, and the annual R&D investment has reached 3.5 billion yuan.
For Xpeng Motors, an annual investment of 3.5 billion yuan is a large expenditure. At present, Xpeng Motors is still in the red. In the just-released February sales figures, Xpeng Motors sold only 4,545 units, including 1,448 units of the Xpeng X9 launched in December. Compared with other competitors, Xpeng has shown signs of falling behind. If the two goals set out above are to be achieved, it means that Xpeng may invest more this year and next.
Therefore, how to raise enough funds for the intelligent driving business while Xiaopeng continues to lose money, and at the same time ensure that it can obtain enough resources in new car research and development and sales promotion, is a problem that He Xiaopeng needs to solve.
But from another point of view, intelligent driving has become one of the main selling points of Xpeng Motors. Before Volkswagen took a stake in Xpeng Motors, it was somewhat related to the technological leadership of Xpeng Motors in intelligent driving. Compared with Volkswagen's investment, another income of Xpeng Intelligent Driving** is through the sales of intelligent driving software.
According to the statistics of Xpeng Motors, there are 94 at the moment7% of users have experienced Xpeng's high-speed intelligent driving, 832% of users have experienced Xpeng's urban intelligent driving. If a considerable proportion of these users are willing to subscribe to Xpeng's intelligent driving products, then even if Xiaopeng's intelligent driving is not as high as Tesla's FSD single car of nearly 100,000 yuan**, it can also become an important income for Xpeng**.
Is Xpeng's intelligent driving ability strong?
To say that Xiaopeng's intelligent driving ability is not strong, at least in the domestic market, Xiaopeng is still in the first echelon.
At present, with the improvement of computing power and the improvement of algorithms, the opening efficiency of Xpeng's XNGP has been increased by 384 times, and a new city can be opened in 1-2 days at the earliest.
As of January 1, 2024, Xpeng XNGP has been comprehensively pushed in 243 cities across the country, and in 2024, Xpeng's initial goal is to add 100 new cities. From the perspective of intelligent driving capabilities, Xpeng high-speed NGP has been able to achieve an average of 2,000 kilometers with only one passive takeover, the speed of intelligent driving has increased by 13%, the time of intelligent driving has been close to the time consumption of manual driving, and the accident rate has been reduced by 90%.
If Xpeng can achieve such intelligent driving effects in the European market, then it will also build its capabilities in Europe compared to traditional car companies. To a certain extent, the marking lines of European roads are clearer, especially in relatively closed road scenarios such as highways, which will leave more room for intelligent driving.
Autonomous driving has long and obstructive roads
For car companies, the jump from L2 or L3 to L4 requires a lot of effort. Not only does this require overcoming a large number of long-tail conditions, but the vehicle also needs to be able to respond automatically to long-tail conditions that it has never encountered before. Behind this is a great test for car companies or other autonomous driving technology companies in terms of AI and artificial intelligence.
According to the data shown above by Xpeng Motors, it is not easy to achieve such a result. However, for L2 level driving assistance functions, Xpeng's high-speed NGP is enough at present, after all, the driver can take over at any time, which can greatly relieve the pressure on the intelligent driving system.
If you want to upgrade to L3 or even L4, this level is still far from enough. Because if there is a slight difference, it will cause a lot of danger to the personal safety of the driver or other people outside the vehicle. And once there is a recall, then Xpeng's reputation in the field of intelligent driving will be completely ruined. If the accident occurs abroad, it will also face endless lawsuits and lawsuits.
High-level autonomous driving is the most dazzling jewel in the crown of automotive technology. There is no room for deception when it comes to high-level autonomous driving technology. Whether it is L2, L3 or even L4, it is definitely not just a small difference in numbers, but also a leap forward in technology and a very heavy responsibility for a car company.
For Xpeng Motors, as a leader in related industries in China, Xpeng has made progress in the past for all to see; But looking ahead, much remains to be done. People will also wait and see the achievements of Xpeng Motors in intelligent driving, hoping that Xpeng will win glory in Europe and other overseas markets.