Photo: Public domain
Xpeng recently made the headlines after presenting the P5, the first EV to feature a LiDAR as standard equipment (in more expensive versions). Despite that, the company has been praising its ADAS system since the P7. It is called XPILOT 3.0. The P5 will present a more advanced version called XPILOT 3.5, with an NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot) function that will also handle city traffic. Xpeng used to say the NGP never had a crash, but that changed on September 22 when a P7 crashed against the back of a truck in China.
The Twitter discussion that revealed the video was started by Lei Xing, a respected Chinese automotive journalist. People who already drove the P7 and some who own one clarified that it has a camera to monitor the driver. Its role is to check if they are paying attention to the road, which implies that this crash happened because the driver decided to see if it would manage to brake the car or not. Well, it didn’t.
Although the P7 does not present a LiDAR, Xpeng is proud that it has multiple other sensors that would theoretically prevent similar crashes. Check how the company describes them on its website:
“The P7 is equipped with 31 sensors for advanced driver assistance functions, including ultrasonic sensors, high-definition millimeter wave radars and advanced driver assistance cameras. The P7 actively detects its surrounding environment, and alerts the driver to potential risks, promptly assisting the driver when necessary.”
The array of resources the P7 has makes us wonder what could have caused the crash. The Xpeng even has radars, an equipment Tesla suppressed in its vehicles because it would be enough to rely solely on the cars’ cameras. That did not prevent the NHTSA from investigating the company for crashes against emergency vehicles when Autopilot was active.
We’ll get in touch with Xpeng to check what the company has to say about the crash and to learn if it was the first one on NGP, as it seems. As soon as the company gets back to us, we’ll let you know about it.
Although the P7 does not present a LiDAR, Xpeng is proud that it has multiple other sensors that would theoretically prevent similar crashes. Check how the company describes them on its website:
“The P7 is equipped with 31 sensors for advanced driver assistance functions, including ultrasonic sensors, high-definition millimeter wave radars and advanced driver assistance cameras. The P7 actively detects its surrounding environment, and alerts the driver to potential risks, promptly assisting the driver when necessary.”
The array of resources the P7 has makes us wonder what could have caused the crash. The Xpeng even has radars, an equipment Tesla suppressed in its vehicles because it would be enough to rely solely on the cars’ cameras. That did not prevent the NHTSA from investigating the company for crashes against emergency vehicles when Autopilot was active.
We’ll get in touch with Xpeng to check what the company has to say about the crash and to learn if it was the first one on NGP, as it seems. As soon as the company gets back to us, we’ll let you know about it.
Looks like first accident involving Xpeng NGP. Similar to Autopilot/ES8 accidents where driver may not have paid attention and as well as limited capabilities of ADAS I this corner case situation lacking LiDAR.
— Lei Xing?? (@leixing77) September 24, 2021
NGP city or highway is still L2 and driver has full responsibility. https://t.co/WhsnihKNT7
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