Shanghai (ZXZC)- Xiaopeng Motors, a start-up which focuses on Internet vehicles, announced yesterday that it hired machine learning expert Junli Gu as the vice president for its research and development on self-driving. The expert will report directly to its president Mr. He Xiaopeng, who was also the founder of UC Web.

Doctor Gu will be responsible for setting up a self-driving R&D team for the company and lead its study on artificial intelligence innovation and self-driving software to speed the application and iterative upgrading of the company’s self-driving technology. 

In February, 2016, Doctor Gu joined Tesla to lead its Autopilot’s self-driving tech. Gu established the electric vehicle maker’s machine learning team and managed to develop Autopilot 2.0 and realize its application on many Tesla vehicles.

Gu graduated from Tsinghua University with her doctorate degree and once worked in Google’s headquarter. From July, 2012, Gu had been leading a team at AMD for four years and responsible for the research and development of big data and machine learning.

On October 12, Xiaopeng’s first mass-produced SUVs rolled off the production line. Up to now, the company has completed key system’s research and development for Internet vehicles. Based on its superb Internet vehicles, the company wishes to attract customers with a refreshing experience with our new technologies, new designs and new business models.

In May, Xiaopeng Motors said its vehicle production base would be located in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province. In June, the company got RMB 2.2 billion for its A round fund raising. The president said its R&D team will have a total of 1,500 members in Guangzhou, Beijing and Silicon Valley by the end of next year and the number are expected to be doubled in 2019.