Tag: self-driving

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China Deliveries Electric eMobility eV EV Data Monthly Data XPeng

XPeng delivers 7,079 vehicles in Apr, largely flat from Mar

The P7i, which was launched in March, continues to gather strong order momentum and the company is significantly ramping up production, which will accelerate customer deliveries in the near future, XPeng said.  |  XPeng US | XPeng HK

XPeng's (NYSE: XPEV) deliveries in April were essentially flat compared with March, as the company appears to be on the cusp of emerging from a mire of weak sales.

The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker delivered 7,079 vehicles in April, down 21.36 percent from 9,002 a year ago but up 1.1 percent from 7,002 in March, according to data released today.

This is the third consecutive month-on-month gain in monthly XPeng deliveries, after about a year of weak sales.

XPeng did not provide model-specific breakdown figures for the models it currently sells, which include the flagship SUV G9, flagship sedan P7i, older P7, P5 and G3i.

The P7i sports sedan, launched in March, continues to gather strong order momentum, XPeng said, adding that the company is significantly ramping up production, which will accelerate customer deliveries of the P7i in the near future.

XPeng unveiled the new SUV G6 on April 18, the first day of the Shanghai auto show, which is based on the 800 V high-voltage platform and can get 300 kilometers of range in as little as 10 minutes on a charge.

XPeng did not announce specific specifications or pricing information for the G6, and they are expected to be known at the official launch event in the future.

The company's management previously said the G6 will be officially launched and delivered by the end of the second quarter, with a price range of RMB 200,000 - 300,000.

The G6's debut at Shanghai auto show generated remarkable enthusiasm among visitors, making XPeng's booth one of the most popular at the event, the company said today.

The model is scheduled to be officially launched at the end of the second quarter with deliveries immediately following, XPeng said, repeating its previous plans.

On April 16, XPeng unveiled its next-generation vehicle technology architecture, SEPA (Smart Electric Platform Architecture) 2.0, on which the G6 is the first model to be based.

This architecture will shorten the development cycle of future models by 20 percent and optimize development efficiency significantly. Interchangeability and interoperability of common and modular components between new models will reach 80 percent, enabling XPeng to meet diverse customer needs at an optimized cost, it said at the time.

In April, the XPeng G9 received a third-class road test license in Guangzhou for passenger-carrying autonomous driving tests, XPeng said today.

The company expects to expand the G9's tests to all customers in Guangzhou's Huangpu district in the second half of the year, giving more customers access to new mobility experiences, it said.

XPeng G6 debuts at Shanghai auto show

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Auto Show China Electric eMobility eV Tesla XPeng XPeng G6

XPeng G6 debuts at Shanghai auto show

The G6, a new energy SUV with a price range of RMB 200,000-300,000, will be officially launched and delivered by the end of the second quarter, XPeng said previously.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

XPeng's (NYSE: XPEV) new model G6, its first model based on the next-generation architecture, was officially unveiled today on the first day of the Shanghai auto show.

XPeng said the G6 is the ultimate form of vehicle before full is achieved, saying the model is equipped with XNGP intelligent assisted driving that provides powerful environmental awareness and can generate high precision maps in real-time.

The model is based on an 800 V high-voltage platform and can get 300 kilometers of range in as little as 10 minutes of charge, XPeng said. The company's other 800 V-based model is the flagship G9 SUV.

XPeng did not announce specific specifications or pricing information for the G6, which are expected to be known at a future official launch event.

XPeng unveiled its next-generation architecture called SEPA (Smart Electric Platform Architecture) 2.0 at an event in Shanghai on April 16, saying the G6 will be the first model to be built on it.

The architecture will shorten the development cycle of future models by 20 percent and optimize development efficiency significantly, it said, adding that interchangeability and interoperability of common and modular components between new models will reach 80 percent, enabling XPeng to meet diverse customer needs at an optimized cost.

Early last month, a regulatory filing revealed that the XPeng G6 has a length, width and height of 4,753 mm, 1,920 mm and 1,650 mm, respectively, and a wheelbase of 2,890 mm.

For comparison, the (NASDAQ: TSLA) Model Y measures 4,750 mm in length, 1,921 mm in width and 1,624 mm in height, with a wheelbase of 2,890 mm.

The two single-motor versions of the XPeng G6 feature a 218 kW peak power motor, while the dual-motor version has an additional 140 kW peak power motor.

All three versions of the XPeng G6 in the filing are equipped with cells supplied by 's local competitor CALB, and battery packs are manufactured at XPeng's plant in Wuhan, Hubei.

On March 17, XPeng management said during the company's fourth-quarter earnings call that the G6, a new energy SUV with a price range of RMB 200,000 ($29,090) to RMB 300,000, will be officially launched and delivered by the end of the second quarter.

XPeng's monthly sales target for the G6 is two to three times that of the P7, the company's chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng said during the call.

The G6 will have a significantly improved range that will exceed expectations and will have much more interior space than similar offerings from competitors, he said previously.

In a research note sent to investors on March 22, Deutsche Bank analyst Edison Yu's team said the G6 will be the swing factor and that the model will need to succeed in order to make XPeng truly relevant in the market again.

(1 $= RMB 6.8761)

G6 will be swing factor for XPeng, says Deutsche Bank

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China Electric eMobility eV Tesla Tesla Team Tom Zhu

Tom Zhu becomes 1 of 4 key execs at Tesla

Zhu, 43, has been officially named senior vice president of Tesla's automotive business.

Tom Zhu, who has made significant contributions to the development of Tesla's China business, has been officially named one of the top four executives at the US electric vehicle (EV) maker.

Zhu, 43, has been named senior vice president of Tesla's automotive business, according to a filing the EV maker made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday.

"Tom Zhu has served as our Senior Vice President, Automotive since April 2023," the filing reads.

Here is a brief description of Zhu in the filing:

Mr. Zhu joined Tesla in April 2014, and served in various operational roles before being appointed as Vice President, Greater China, where he led the construction and operations of Gigafactory Shanghai.

Mr. Zhu holds a bachelor's degree of commerce in information technology from the Auckland University of Technology and an M.B.A. from Duke University.

Zhu joined Tesla in April 2014 as the director of the EV maker's Supercharger program in China.

In July 2019, he was mentioned in media reports as Tesla's global vice president and president of Greater China region.

Rumors of Zhu receiving a promotion at Tesla began to emerge from late last year.

On July 8, 2022, Bloomberg cited people familiar with the matter as saying that Tesla had changed its management structure in the Asia-Pacific region, with executives in the region now reporting to Greater China rather than the United States.

Senior executives in the region report to Zhu, then president of Tesla China, meaning he also oversees Tesla's Asia Pacific region, a position previously held by US executives, according to the report.

On December 8, local media outlet Ping West reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk would have Zhu succeed him as CEO of the EV maker.

Zhu's CEO position would be global, but the scope of responsibilities would likely be limited to Tesla's automotive business and not include and robotics programs, the report said.

Zhu has been promoted to head Tesla's US assembly plants and sales operations in North America and Europe, Reuters said on January 3, citing an internal report line announcement.

The move makes Zhu the highest-profile Tesla executive since Elon Musk, with oversight for deliveries in all of its major markets and all of its production outside the still-ramping Tesla plant in Germany, the report noted.

Zhu's promotion is apparently related to Tesla's China business becoming increasingly important.

Tesla delivered 422,875 vehicles worldwide in the first quarter, including 412,180 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles and 10,695 Model S and Model X vehicles, according to figures it announced April 2.

Tesla's China-made vehicles delivered 229,322 units in the first quarter, up 25.88 percent from 182,174 units in the same quarter last year, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) monitored by CnEVPost.

This means that 54 percent of Tesla's global deliveries in the first quarter were made at the Shanghai plant.

Tesla sells 88,869 China-made vehicles in Mar, CPCA data show

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China Electric eMobility eV Smart Driving Tesla Tesla FSD

Tesla reportedly to begin large-scale testing of FSD in China

will soon begin large-scale testing of FSD (Full ) in China, according to a report by Caixin on April 3.  TSLA.US

(A screenshot from the Tesla China website.)

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), despite being a pioneer among electric vehicle (EV) makers in exploring autonomous driving, has been seen as slow to move in the space in China. Now, it looks like things are about to change.

Tesla is about to begin large-scale testing of FSD (Full Self-Driving) in China, local media outlet Caixin said in an April 3 report.

The story was a feature on and did not mention anything more about Tesla's FSD localization efforts in China.

Notably, this is the second time in a week that similar rumors have surfaced.

Tesla China will soon push out a major update to Autopilot, auto blogger Zheng Xiaokang, who has 532,000 followers on Weibo, said on March 27.

The blogger did not mention any more information, and in the comments section of his Weibo post, there was speculation that the update might be Tesla's vision-only V11 software.

All Tesla vehicles currently come with the free Basic Autopilot (BAP) software. In addition, Tesla offers Enhanced Autopilot (EAP), FSD software as an option.

EAP and FSD cost $6,000 and $15,000 in the US and RMB 32,000 ($4,650) and RMB 64,000 in China, respectively.

Tesla opened the EAP feature option in China on February 5, 2021, adding several features compared to BAP, including automatic assisted lane change, automatic parking, and smart summoning.

Tesla has made the EAP feature available free of charge to Chinese owners on holidays several times over the past two years, although the software has not won much praise.

The optional Tesla FSD capability has always been available, but Chinese consumers who have purchased the package have so far failed to get a significantly better experience than BAP.

In contrast, Tesla's Chinese counterparts are seeing tremendous progress with the assisted driving feature.

On March 31, (NYSE: XPEV) made its Tesla FSD-like advanced driver assistance aystem (ADAS) available for its flagship G9 and P7i models, though the capability still relies on high-precision maps for now. The feature was previously available on the P5 sedan.

XPeng plans to expand full lane-changing, overtaking and left/right turn functionality to major Chinese cities without high-precision maps in the second half of 2023, while full-scene ADAS is planned for 2024.

On February 20, (NYSE: NIO) began allowing all NT 2.0 platform models to trial NOP+ assisted driving software, which enables a point-to-point assisted driving experience on highways as well as urban expressway scenarios.

($1 = RMB 6.8822)

Tesla rumored to push major Autopilot update in China soon

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China Electric eMobility eV Tesla

Tesla’s lower-priced model coming with planned annual capacity of 4 million units, report says

's lower-priced model will be a smaller version of the Model Y, and the EV maker is building a capacity plan for it of up to 4 million units a year, a new report said.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is planning capacity for a lower-priced model, though it's not the one previously rumored to be priced at $25,000, according to a new report.

The model will be a smaller version of the Model Y, for which Tesla is building an annual capacity plan of up to 4 million units, Chinese media outlet 36kr said in a report today, citing sources.

This is an early capacity strategy, and Tesla is signaling to the industry chain that the 4 million units of capacity will be spread across its factories located around the world, according to the report.

Tesla's North American plants will take on 2 million units of capacity, with the Monterrey, Mexico, plant providing the bulk of the capacity. Its factories in Berlin, Germany, and Shanghai will each take on 1 million units, the report said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said at the company's 2020 Battery Day that electric vehicles priced at $25,000 will be possible by 2023.

Although rumors of the lower-priced model have popped up from time to time over the past few years, it has never become a reality.

For an electric vehicle with a range of no less than 400 kilometers and a mainstream smart driving suite, material costs are extremely difficult to get below RMB 150,000 ($25,000), the 36kr report said, citing an engineer from a local car company.

Depending on the factory's construction schedule, mass production of Tesla's $25,000 model may not come soon, at least more than a year away, the report said, citing a source.

If Tesla can bring the price of its electric vehicles down to slightly more than RMB 100,000, not only will it gain significant market share for itself, but it will also be a huge push for the maturation of the industry chain, an industry source said, adding that this is when the smart electric vehicle industry will see drastic changes.

Tesla delivered 422,875 units worldwide in the first quarter, up 36.39 percent from 310,048 units in the same period last year and up 4.34 percent from 405,278 units delivered in the fourth quarter, according to its announcement on April 2.

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y delivered 412,180 units worldwide in the quarter, and Model S and Model X were 10,695 units.

In China, Tesla has a factory in Shanghai that produces the Model 3 and Model Y. It is the largest Tesla factory in the world, with an annual capacity of about 1.1 million units per year.

Tesla does not reveal its deliveries in China, although the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) publishes these numbers every month.

Tesla's deliveries in China in January and February were 26,843 and 33,923, respectively, and its Shanghai plant exported 39,208 and 40,479 units in the two months, according to the CPCA. March figures are expected to be available in the next few days.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk planning visit to China, report says

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China Electric eMobility eV Self-driving WeRide

Chinese self-driving startup WeRide plans to start autonomous vehicle testing in Singapore this year

In September 2022, WeRide launched its Singapore company and signed a memorandum of cooperation with a subsidiary of a local public transport operator in November.

(Image credit: WeRide)

Chinese startup WeRide plans to start testing autonomous vehicles in Singapore this year, as it begins to set its sights on Southeast Asian markets.

WeRide will work with Strides, a subsidiary of Singapore's largest public transport operator SMRT, to test and pilot self-driving vehicles in the Southeast Asian country, according to an article yesterday on its official WeChat account.

In September 2022, WeRide established the Singapore branch and signed a memorandum of cooperation with Strides in November, according to the article.

SMRT and another Singaporean investment house, K3 Ventures, are both strategic investors in WeRide, and they will help the company grow in Singapore and Southeast Asian markets, the article said.

On March 27, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong kicked off a six-day visit to China and visited WeRide's headquarters in Guangzhou, said the article.

WeRide's office in Singapore is hiring talents there, and the company will use the office as a regional development center for Asia Pacific operations, according to its founder and CEO Han Xu.

Founded in Guangzhou in 2017, WeRide's products include Robotaxi, Mini Robobus, Robovan, Robo Street Sweeper and SAE L2-L4 advanced smart driving solutions.

WeRide is now testing and operating driverless vehicles in 25 cities in 5 countries, according to the article.

The company has a fleet of more than 500 self-driving vehicles and more than 16 million miles of autonomous driving, WeRide said.

On March 13, Bloomberg reported that WeRide has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US and hopes to raise as much as $500 million.

WeRide is poised to go public as early as the first half of this year, according to the report.

In March 2022, local media outlet LatePost reported that WeRide had closed a new round of over $400 million in financing, with a post-investment valuation of $4.4 billion.

Investors in the round included GAC Group, Bosch, China-Arab Investment Funds, and Carlyle Group, the report said.

WeRide unveils smaller, lower-cost self-driving sensor suite

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China Electric eMobility eV Industry News Kia Product Launch

Kia enters China’s crowded EV market, 1st model expected to launch in Aug

The Kia EV6 will be brought to China as an import and is expected to go on sale in August this year. It will also launch the EV5 in November, its first model to be produced in China.

Kia Motors, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co, is entering China's increasingly crowded electric vehicle (EV) market.

The South Korean automaker announced its official entry into the Chinese EV market at a launch event today, unveiling the EV5 Concept, EV9 Concept and EV6 GT.

Its first all-electric model offered in China, the EV6, will be introduced as an import and is expected to be launched in August of this year.

The EV6 is Kia's first all-electric vehicle, based on the dedicated EV platform E-GMP, and claims to be able to accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h in as fast as 3.5 seconds.

The model is equipped with 800V fast charging capability, charging from 10 percent to 80 percent in just 18 minutes.

Kia will also launch the EV5, its first global model to be built in China and debuting here, in November.

(Kia EV5 concept car)

Kia also plans to launch its flagship electric SUV EV9 in 2024, an entry-level all-electric SUV in 2025, a premium electric sedan based on a next-generation EV-specific platform in 2026, and a mid-size all-electric SUV in 2027.

The EV9 concept has a length of more than 5,000 mm and a wheelbase of 3,100 mm, with a 3-row, 6-seat interior layout.

The concept car will have an 800 V high-voltage fast charging system and can be charged up to 350 kW.

The EV9 will be Kia's first vehicle in China to be equipped with the highway system, and the production version is expected to be equipped with L3 assisted driving system.

(Kia EV9 concept car)

In China, Kia has a sales target of 450,000 units by 2030, of which 40 percent will be new energy vehicle (NEV) models.

Kia plans to launch the Kia brand app in China later this year, which will offer features including car shopping, car use, services, and infotainment.

The automaker will create sales channels in China including dealership stores as well as City Stores, and will set up special sections for NEV models in showrooms.

Kia will establish City Store city showrooms in the core business districts of China's first and second-tier key cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Notably, on November 20 last year, Kia announced the opening of its first City Store in China in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, where its EV6, an all-electric vehicle, will be one of the first models to be showcased in the store.

The City Store is a new channel for Kia's electrification transformation and a new platform to revolutionize the user experience, the company said at the time.

Kia launches EV offensive with opening of its 1st City Store in China

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Apollo Go Baidu Baidu Apollo China Electric eMobility eV Robotaxi Self-driving

Baidu’s robotaxi platform Apollo Go gets permit to offer fully driverless rides in Beijing

To date, Baidu's Apollo Go has been offering fully driverless ride-hailing services in Beijing, Wuhan and Chongqing.  | Baidu.US | Baidu.HK

(Image credit: Baidu)

Baidu's ride-hailing service platform Apollo Go has won a permit to offer fully driverless rides in Beijing, allowing it to expand the service to three Chinese megacities.

The search engine giant announced the development today, saying it is the first provider of fully driverless robotaxi services in the capital city of any country worldwide. Apollo Go has previously been approved to offer the service in Wuhan and Chongqing.

Baidu Apollo will deploy a total of 10 fully driverless vehicles in Beijing's Yizhuang Economic Development Zone, according to a press release from the company.

Apollo Go is currently providing an average of more than 20 rides per vehicle per day within the area, exceeding the average number of rides taken by traditional online ride-hailing services, Baidu said.

Yizhuang is one of the active hubs for autonomous driving in China. Beijing plans to expand its high-level automated demonstration area in the Yizhuang Economic Development Zone from the existing 60 square kilometers to an eventual 500 square kilometers.

Baidu has been developing autonomous driving technology since 2013 and has accumulated more than 50 million kilometers of testing in Level 4 autonomous driving.

As of the end of January, Apollo Go offered more than 2 million cumulative rides to the public, Baidu said.

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Apollo Go provided 561,000 rides to the public, up 162 percent year-on-year, according to Baidu's fourth-quarter earnings report.

On November 29 last year, Baidu announced that it plans to scale up Apollo's operations in 2023 with fully unmanned self-driving operations in more regions.

Baidu will build the world's largest fully driverless taxi service area in 2023, maintaining its growth momentum as the world's largest robot cab provider, the company said at the time.

Baidu previously announced plans to expand its self-driving mobility service to 65 cities by 2025 and 100 cities by 2030.

Baidu plans to put 200 additional driverless vehicles into operation in 2023

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