The Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng has formally announced the launch of a pilot program for its City Navigation Guided Pilot (City NGP). The company’s Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), which includes features for complex urban driving conditions, is the subject of the pilot study.
Electrek reported that the City NGP from XPeng is the first advanced ADAS from a Chinese automaker. Notably, the features of City NGP are very similar to those of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta, which has not yet been made available outside of Canada and the United States, despite rumors that Tesla has been testing it domestically in China.
Customers can access City NGP through over-the-air (OTA) upgrades on a fleet of XPeng P5 electric cars in the Guangzhou region. Meanwhile, a subsequent launch of the service will include other cities.
He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng stated:
| “With the rollout of City NGP, XPeng is spearheading a strategic roadmap to complete our ADAS coverage from highways and parking lots to much more complex city driving scenarios, offering our customers enhanced safety and an optimized driving experience. We believe the continuous evolvement of City NGP and the expansion of its coverage will accelerate the transformation of the driving experiences of our customers.” |
Once City NGP is enabled with a predetermined destination, the car alone can handle all aspects of driving, claims XPeng. These driving tasks include the following:
· cruising with 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
· maintaining an appropriate speed throughout the driving route
Additionally, the system has the following abilities:
· automatically detect and react to traffic lights
· make lane change decisions and inform drivers
· take left or right turns, and navigate through intersections
· roundabouts, viaducts and tunnels
· avoid obstructions like construction, pedestrians, and cyclists
The ADAS platform that powers City NGP uses a multi-modality sensor fusion framework with cameras, LiDAR units, millimeter-wave radars, high-precision positioning systems, and other sensor gear to provide 360-degree fusion vision.
Moreover, a more advanced Surrounding Reality (SR) display was also unveiled by XPeng. It is said to be able to project high-definition map data on the center panel and digital dashboard in real-time, as well as visualize the surroundings of a vehicle and present them in 3D.
City NGP, which is a component of the XPilot 3.5 system, will first be offered on the XPeng P5’s premium model. Before the system’s features may be utilized on all accessible routes, it has to be familiarized for seven days and drive 100 kilometers (62 miles). This is done, according to XPeng, “to ensure sufficient knowledge of safety procedures.”
Meanwhile, the fourth production model from XPeng, the flagship G9 SUV, which will go on sale in China on September 21, will be the next vehicle to have the full-scenario ADAS.
For a better experience, here is the latest official video of the City NGP driver-assistance feature completing a no-intervention drive on a rainy evening in Guangzhou.
It is worth noting that despite supply chain issues, strict COVID-19 regulations, and other constraints, XPeng Motors remains one of China’s leading manufacturers of electric vehicles.
