On the road with Highway Navigation Guided Pilot, the semi-autonomous driving tech from XPeng

XPeng Inc. releases autonomous technology

XPeng Inc. released their Highway Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) software to customers via an over-the-air (OTA) update on January 26, and has already logged over one million kilometres within its first 25 days.

Youtuber Wheelsboy visited XPeng’s headquarters, and demonstrated the company’s NGP technology on an electric P7 sedan:

XPeng’s NGP features

Owners are required to watch an instructional video and complete a quiz before the software features are unlocked. Once operational, XPeng’s NGP can perform the following functions:

• Automatic lane changing and overtaking with lane optimisation

• Automatic speed limit adjustment

• Automatic changing of highways

• Automatic highway ramp entering and exiting

• Collision avoidance, in -lane and while changing lanes

• Identification and avoidance of obstacles on the road

Customers are required to watch a safety video regarding the operation of NGP before using the features. Image: XPeng

XPeng is working hard to gather data from customers on the road to improve their technology. NGP utilises cameras, sensors, radar and lidar for its suite of autonomous functions, whereas Tesla has avoided lidar technology, with Elon Musk going so far as to say “lidar is a fool’s errand” and “Anyone relying on lidar is doomed. Doomed!”

We know that Tesla’s autonomous systems are a technological tour-de-force, with dual chips for redundancy, and a processor capable of over 144 trillion operations per second (TOPS). For comparison, XPeng’s in-car computer is currently rated at 30 TOPS, but the company promises increases to the computing power over time. We’re yet to see how well XPeng’s NGP software works outside of China, but Wheelsboy’s video demonstrates promising signs of competent driver assistance technology.