XPeng’s Chief Executive and Chairman He Xiaopeng has just taken Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) V12.3.6 for a spin in the United States, demonstrating the Chinese electric automaker’s efforts in competitive benchmarking.
XPeng CEO experiences Tesla’s FSD
XPeng boss Xiaopeng announced on Chinese social media platform Weibo that he has been in the US for some time now, CnEVPost reported.
His visit to Tesla’s home turf gave him an opportunity to experience and test competing autonomous driving technologies, particularly those from the Musk-led EV giant and Google-backed Waymo.
Apart from the Tesla FSD V12.3.6, the XPeng executive is also looking to ride on a Tesla car with the 12.4.1 version.
“I’m in the US for a long time this time, so I’ll take this opportunity to review the latest versions of FSD and Waymo. I have Tesla FSD V12.3.6 here, and if you have the beta version of 12.4.1, you can lend it to me.”
He Xiaopeng, XPeng’s Chief Executive and Chairman
As you can see in the Weibo post, CEO Xiaopeng used a blue previous generation Tesla Model 3 sedan in 2024.14.9. software. It is equipped with FSD (Supervised) v12.3.6, enabling the XPeng leader to experience its features firsthand in San Francisco.
Unsurprisingly, the outspoken Tesla CEO responded in Sawyer Merritt’s report on X.
XPeng took the chance to ask CEO Musk directly for access to FSD V12.4.1.
Competitive benchmarking
CEO Xiaopeng admitted that he aims to determine the capabilities of Tesla’s FSD suite and Waymo Robotaxi’s autonomous driving systems to compare them with XPeng’s own advanced driver-assist system, the XNGP.
The XPeng boss also thanked industry enthusiasts who compared XPeng’s XNGP to Tesla FSD.
“Thank you for the comparison between FSD and XNGP. If you want to know more about what aspects, you can tell me.”
He Xiaopeng, XPeng’s Chief Executive and Chairman
While XPeng and Tesla are direct competitors, CEO Xiaopeng did not hesitate to offer positive remarks toward the Musk-led company’s FSD push.
In hindsight, Tesla Chief Elon Musk went to China in late April to push for the FSD launch. XPeng CEO Xiaopeng expressed his warm welcome to Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) in a post.
“Today, many friends asked me what I think about FSD entering China. I especially welcome Tesla FSD to enter China… Tesla has very good self-driving technology and brand. Only when more good products and technologies enter can the entire market and customers have more good experiences, and the market develops and accelerates in a more healthy direction.”
He Xiaopeng, XPeng’s Chief Executive and Chairman, said in an April 2024 post
Tesla FSD push in China
Tesla recently overcame a major hurdle in its ambition to launch the FSD suite in the Chinese market by partnering with a local tech giant, Baidu.
Baidu aided Tesla China on key matters, including mapping and navigation systems. Progress over the past couple of months hints that Tesla FSD may soon penetrate the world’s largest auto market.
Recent reports suggest that the Musk-led company was gearing up to register the software with the Chinese government to achieve its goal of launching FSD in China this year.
Once Tesla registers FSD with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, it can finally initiate internal testing on employee vehicles. After that, Tesla can finally offer the software to Chinese owners as an upgrade.
As of today, all Tesla EVs in China have free Basic Autopilot (BAP) software. Tesla also offers Enhanced Autopilot (EAP) and FSD software options for RMB 32,000 ($4,410) and RMB 64,000, respectively. Since the EAP and FSD features are not trained for China’s specific road conditions, they currently do not offer a significant advantage over the free BAP. However, EAP and FSD do come with extra perks like remote summoning.
