En julio 26, Volkswagen y Motores Xpeng announced a technical cooperation framework agreement, with Volkswagen investing $700 million in Xpeng Motors. The collaboration will leverage Xpeng Motors’ vehicle platform, Cabina inteligente, and intelligent driving system, while Volkswagen will provide its world-leading engineering and supply chain capabilities. The negotiations between the two companies began in the fourth quarter of last year, and this partnership is seen as a win-win situation. Volkswagen’s investment will complement its smart cockpit and high-end smart driving capabilities, boosting its electric vehicle sales in China. Por otro lado, Motores Xpeng, known for its mid-to-high-end assisted driving capabilities, will benefit from Volkswagen’s expertise to further advance its autonomous driving technology.
Xpeng Motors has been making significant strides in autonomous driving with its NGP (Piloto guiado de navegación) sistema, which provides functions like automatic avoidance of construction scenes, intelligent response to side car congestion, y más. Its urban NGP has achieved an efficiency close to 90% of human drivers and will be expanded to nearly 50 cities in the second half of the year. Adicionalmente, the new XNGP based on the XNET deep learning algorithm will achieve extensive coverage of urban roads across the country, surpassing Tesla’s performance in the US.
Además, Xpeng Motors has introduced the 800V silicon carbide electrical architecture, allowing for rapid battery charging and an extended driving range. The company’s latest Swing architecture brings innovative features like front and rear integrated aluminum die-casting body, Tecnología de integración de la batería CIB, and a communication architecture with Gigabit Ethernet backbone. This architecture also benefits from the autonomous driving intelligent computing center “Fuyao,” which significantly boosts the training speed of the core model for Xpeng’s autonomous driving.
The collaboration between Xpeng Motors and Volkswagen addresses the shortcomings of both companies, making it a promising venture in the rapidly evolving electric vehicle market.
