Written by Sarah Wu
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker XPeng said on Thursday it will enter a “super fast cycle” of upgrades to its software and artificial intelligence training starting in May, as other companies use its platform. He said he hopes to expand to other Asian countries and Europe. .
The software will be updated with upgrades every two months, He Xiaopeng, founder and CEO of the German Volkswagen-backed automaker, said in comments at a press conference on the opening day of the Beijing Auto Show. said.
“We believe that this year, XPeng will far outperform all of its self-driving technology rivals in China,” he said.
While rival Chinese automakers are cutting costs amid a price war, XPeng is investing heavily in innovation as buyers in the world's largest car market increasingly look for more high-tech features when choosing a car. He promised to make an investment.
XPeng announced in February that it plans to hire 4,000 people this year and invest 3.5 billion yuan ($482 million) in artificial intelligence for intelligent driving technology.
He also hopes that the smart EV that Xpeng is developing under its new brand “Mona” will sell better than Xiaomi's SU7 in the second half of this year, and that Xpeng plans to pre-sell its flying car in the fourth quarter. He said he is doing so.
XPeng, one of China's best-selling EV startups, counts Volkswagen as a shareholder after the German automaker invested about $700 million for a 4.99% stake.
Volkswagen said it has developed a new architecture for intelligent electric vehicles using Xpeng that will help the German automaker offer more affordable models.
(1 dollar = 7.2467 Chinese Yuan)
(Reporting by Sarah Wu; Writing by Brenda Goh; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Christopher Cushing)