Tesla’s Chinese rival Xpeng ups the self-driving game with world’s first mass-produced LiDAR in P5 sedan, defying Elon Musk

[JacksinPA]

Xpeng puts into production what Elon Musk calls ‘fool’s errand’

Xpeng, Tesla’s Chinese rival, fuels the competition of autonomous driving to a new level with its newly-launched P5 sedan becoming the world’s first mass-produced vehicle with LiDAR technology.

www.scmp.com

• Xpeng’s new P5 sedan becomes the world’s first mass-produced vehicle equipped with LiDAR technology, taking the competition for autonomous driving to a new level
• 
  
• Chinese carmakers are overtaking other players in the autonomous driving segment, analyst says

Xpeng Motors has launched the world’s first mass-produced electric car with LiDAR technology, upping the ante against competitors including Tesla by making the self-driving technology a standard feature in its P5 sedan.

The four-door car will be equipped with 32 perception sensors to augment its laser-based radar to detect its surroundings, including pedestrians, cyclists, static objects and road works – crucial in making autonomous driving possible. The car maker, which
completed a weeklong, 3,675km autonomous test drive

last month from Guangzhou to Beijing on its P7 sedans, will offer drivers what it calls navigation-assisted autonomous driving on highways and enhanced memory parking.
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Incredible stuff - from China. They might eat our lunches.

 

[bomberfox]

Ehh..... im not very trusting with completely autonomous vehicles. They are great when the rules of the road are explicitly defined but terrible when it comes to nuance or more subjective thinking.

 

[Allan]

Xpeng puts into production what Elon Musk calls ‘fool’s errand’

Xpeng, Tesla’s Chinese rival, fuels the competition of autonomous driving to a new level with its newly-launched P5 sedan becoming the world’s first mass-produced vehicle with LiDAR technology.

www.scmp.com

• Xpeng’s new P5 sedan becomes the world’s first mass-produced vehicle equipped with LiDAR technology, taking the competition for autonomous driving to a new level
• 
  
• Chinese carmakers are overtaking other players in the autonomous driving segment, analyst says

Xpeng Motors has launched the world’s first mass-produced electric car with LiDAR technology, upping the ante against competitors including Tesla by making the self-driving technology a standard feature in its P5 sedan.

The four-door car will be equipped with 32 perception sensors to augment its laser-based radar to detect its surroundings, including pedestrians, cyclists, static objects and road works – crucial in making autonomous driving possible. The car maker, which
completed a weeklong, 3,675km autonomous test drive

last month from Guangzhou to Beijing on its P7 sedans, will offer drivers what it calls navigation-assisted autonomous driving on highways and enhanced memory parking.
=================================================================
Incredible stuff - from China. They might eat our lunches.

Vehicles without Lidar are not as safe and don't perform as well as those equipped with the system. Elon made a mistake by not including it in his strategy.

 

[JacksinPA]

Vehicles without Lidar are not as safe and don't perform as well as those equipped with the system. Elon made a mistake by not including it in his strategy.

He's built at least one big factory to make his lithium batteries but battery technology is advancing so rapidly that he may wind up being beaten by the Chinese with cheaper/better technology that gives greater range with lower weight & quicker charging. I'm sure Elon keeps track of this through his engineering staff.

I searched for Tesla patents & was surprised to find far more than I expected. He has a top engineering staff. If they can land a rocket on its tail, they can roll with changing battery technology.

I'm sure he has a development program for self-driving cars.