Xpeng president says upgraded autopilot system will have 40 new features
Xpeng Motors plans to begin deliveries of a third model in the fourth quarter and is upgrading the P7 sedan's operating system, said the Chinese EV maker's president Brian Gu (Gu Hongdi).
The new operating system has more than 40 new features and more than 200 improvements to existing features, including a new "high-speed autonomous navigation driving feature" for highway autonomy that "will revolutionize the way autonomous driving is handled in mass-produced cars in China," Gu said during a Bloomberg interview.
Xpeng has noted the industry's chip shortage, but it was not affected, Gu said, adding that Xpeng uses high-end chips with controlled usage.
Xpeng plans to announce a major over-the-air (OTA) upgrade with a large number of new functions and optimized features on Tuesday.
Xpeng Motors' recently teased sedan is codenamed D55 and is scheduled to enter production in October, a screenshot of a document circulating on Weibo showed recently.
The model could be named the P5. The document shows that Xpeng wants to build it into a popular product and make a breakthrough in terms of production.
Xpeng is aiming for a significant increase in production by 2021, with the Guangzhou plant scheduled to be completed and operational in July this year, when the plants in Zhaoqing and Guangzhou will have a combined design capacity of 400,000 units per year, the document says.