GUANGZHOU, China--(BUSINESS WIRE)--XPeng Inc. ("XPENG" or the "Company," NYSE: XPEV and HKEX: 9868), a leading Chinese smart EV company, today announced that it has successfully obtained the Guangzhou Intelligent Connected Vehicle Road Test Permit (“the Permit”), making XPENG G9 the first unmodified commercial vehicle to qualify for autonomous driving tests on designated public roads in China.
(G9 road test photo library: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1YrbhxzC86-hwVkDFCd7zcOoF48G9jE_8)
The achievement marks a major industry milestone in the path towards mass production of robotaxis as well as future commercialization of robotaxi as a service.
On October 31, XPENG received the Permit following approvals from the Industry and Information Technology Bureau, Public Security Bureau and the Transport Bureau of Guangzhou Municipality. Mass-produced XPENG G9 SUVs, without any hardware reconfiguration but only software upgrades, are now qualified to conduct autonomous driving tests on designated public roads in Guangzhou, China.
“Securing the autonomous driving road testing permit for a commercial vehicle is a strong endorsement of our autonomous driving deep R&D and software capabilities,” said Dr. Xinzhou Wu, Vice President of Autonomous Driving Center at XPENG. “Our approach by using mass-produced commercial vehicles to explore mobility solutions will build a strong foundation to realize economies of scale. Significant cost efficiency brings us another step closer to commercializing robotaxis in the future.”
XPENG expects to leverage its platform-based technology stack to generate synergies as it integrates its advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) with autonomous driving machine-learning-based training models to accelerate software iterations with closed-loop data feedback.
The G9 autonomous driving road test vehicles utilize the same hardware suite as G9 commercial vehicles, including sensors for perception, computing and vehicle control systems.
About XPENG Inc.
XPENG Inc. (“XPENG”) is a leading Chinese Smart EV company that designs, develops, manufactures, and markets smart EVs that appeal to the large and growing base of technology-savvy middle-class consumers. Its mission is to drive Smart EV transformation with technology and data, shaping the mobility experience of the future. In order to optimize its customers’ mobility experience, XPENG develops in-house its full-stack advanced driver-assistance system technology and in-car intelligent operating system, as well as core vehicle systems including powertrain and the electrical/electronic architecture. XPENG is headquartered in Guangzhou, China, with main offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Silicon Valley, San Diego and Amsterdam. The Company’s Smart EVs are mainly manufactured at its plant in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province. For more information, please visit https://heyXPENG.com.