Chinese EV Maker XPeng To Hold AI Day Next Week As Tesla's Event Stands Canceled Over Copycat Concerns

Chinese EV maker XPeng Inc XPEV is now looking to hold its own AI Day next week after American EV giant Tesla, Inc. TSLA dropped holding the event due to concerns about potential imitation.

What Happened: XPeng’s AI day press conference live will start at 7:30 pm local time on May 20. The English replay of the event will be available from May 23, the company said.

AI Day was one of the events held by EV giant Tesla to provide updates on its AI initiatives. During Tesla’s last AI day in 2022, the company provided updates on its humanoid bot, its full self-driving (FSD) driver assistance software, and its dojo supercomputer. However, the company didn’t hold the event in 2023.

During Tesla’s first-quarter earnings call in January, Musk claimed that competitors meticulously scrutinized Tesla's activities during AI Day and Battery Day, subsequently replicating them. "So we have to be a little cautious about revealing the exact recipe of the secret sauce," remarked the CEO.

Why It Matters: Despite the caution, Musk in January acknowledged the importance of providing some form of update and mentioned considering an event later this year after discussions with the team. 

"Our main goal with these AI Day things is recruiting and to sort of change the perception of Tesla as people thinking of Tesla as a car company when they should be thinking of Tesla as an AI robotics company," Musk explained.

Like Tesla’s FSD, XPeng has its own advanced driver assistance system called NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot). It also has a Tesla Optimus rival in its bipedal robot PX5.

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