Xpeng CEO Welcomes Tesla FSD In China Despite Rivalry: 'We're All Pushing The Limits Together...'

Chinese EV maker Xpeng‘s XPEV CEO Xiaopeng He on Wednesday welcomed the rollout of Tesla Inc‘s full self-driving driver assistance features in China.

What Happened: “Truly exciting times and we warmly welcome global leaders like Tesla,” the CEO said in a post on social media platform X.

Xpeng has its own smart driving technology called NGP or Navigation Guided Pilot. Despite the competition between the two companies’ technologies, the CEO applauded Tesla.

“In the world of smart driving, we’re all pushing the limits together – competing, collaborating, and racing to bring users cooler and smarter experiences,” the CEO said.

The CEO also highlighted the similarity between the two technologies and their lack of use of lidar for scanning their surroundings.

“XPENG and Tesla are the world’s earliest AI technology companies that applied end-to-end large model technology in intelligent driving and achieved mass production. We are also the only two AI technology explorers capable of striving to achieve intelligent driving that works well globally with a single software system, without relying on high-definition maps and lidar,” the CEO said in another post on LinkedIn.

Why It Matters: Tesla started rolling out new driving assistance features for its vehicles on city streets in China earlier this week. The features are being rolled out via a software update and are similar to those included under the company's full self-driving software in the U.S.

The company is pushing out the update to vehicles in batches on some models, the company said, while adding that the range of compatible models will be gradually expanded. Following the update, the vehicle will identify traffic lights, allow for automatic lane changes, and more, according to Tesla.

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