XPeng, one of the leading smart electric vehicles maker in China, has announced that the company has launched the pilot program City Navigation Guided Pilot (City NGP), making it the first Chinese auto company to launch such a high-level Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) functions for complex urban driving scenarios.

The system is now available in the area of Guangzhou, China. The ADAS platform is made possible by XPeng’s combination of sensors to deliver a 360-degree fusion perception through cameras, LiDAR, millimeter-wave radars, and high-precision positioning units.

XPeng City NGP Pilot Program

A cohort of Guangzhou-based XPeng P5 customers can now access City NGP through over-the-air updates before launching to other cities. To ensure sufficient knowledge of safety procedures, City NGP requires a seven-day familiarization period, and 100 km of driving before its functions can be used on all available roads.

When City NGP is activated with a set destination, the vehicle itself can perform the full range of driving tasks. The driving tasks include cruising at a safe distance from leading vehicles, changing lanes due to navigation or vehicle overtaking decisions, handling merging/splitting roads, getting around stationary vehicles or obstacles, and maintaining an appropriate speed.

It can also automatically detect and react to traffic lights, make lane change decisions and inform drivers, take a left or right turns, navigate through intersections, roundabouts, viaducts, and tunnels, as well as avoid obstructions.

The approach of XPeng is contrary to Tesla, which has abandoned LiDAR in favor of one single vision perception. Tesla FSD continues to expand and improve through the beta phase, but the company has been deferring the wide release, keeping the customers waiting for it to make good on its promise of fully-autonomous driving.

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