Chinese EV maker Xpeng aims to expand assisted driving tech to more Chinese cities by 2024

Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng plans to make its advanced driver assistance software available to drivers across China by 2024, enabling its vehicles to navigate their way automatically across city streets.

The automobile manufacturer, which is supported by e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding, announced on Friday that the G9 Max and P7i Max models in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai can now employ the X NGP (navigation guided pilot) software, said Xpeng’s vice president Wu Xinzhou at a media event on Friday.

Xpeng plans to install the system on more vehicles in more cities during the remainder of the first half of the year.

With software that helps with controlled braking at stop signs, turning at intersections, and other activities on city streets, XNGP says driving will be easier.

In addition, Xpeng is updating its technology so that future updates to the XNGP won’t rely on maps, which are subject to Chinese regulatory restrictions, but rather on algorithms and sensors.

Xpeng’s XNGP Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) is similar to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology, which the US manufacturer unveiled four years ago but has failed to make accessible in China despite requests from customers.

Xpeng lags behind domestic competitors in terms of recent monthly deliveries, the company is trying to attract customers with its assisted driving technology.

The Hong Kong and New York listed startup has been working on improving its ability for autonomous driving, It has been actively building additional products based on its EV technologies since 2020, such as a flying automobile and a robotic pony, in order to build an ecosystem that would completely meet people’s transportation needs.