Xpeng launched a feature that allows its cars to semi-autonomously navigate urban environments, marking its latest challenge to Tesla.
The Chinese start-up announced that it was piloting a feature known as City NGP, which stands for navigation guided pilot.
Xpeng claims that City NGP will allow the vehicle to perform a “full range of driving tasks,” including cruising at a “safe distance” from a car ahead, changing lanes and overtaking, getting around stationary automobiles or objects and maintaining an “appropriate speed” through the route.
It is designed specifically for urban areas rather than highways. Urban areas are more complicated environments for autonomous driving because of the number of potential objects and scenarios a driver might face.
City NGP is being trialed with some users of the premium version of it P5 sedan in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, where the company is headquartered, it said.
City NGP was first announced last year, when Xpeng released Xpilot 3.5, the latest version of its advanced driver-assistance system, or ADAS. The software enables the car to automatically carry out some driving functions, but requires a driver behind the wheel.
Xpilot and City NGP is Xpeng’s answer to Tesla’s Full Self Driving Beta, which the company is currently testing with customers in the U.S. After testing Tesla’s FSD Beta, it is still marred with technical glitches and far from ready for a mass rollout.
