Compete with Tesla. Editor’s note: This article is from ”
Future car Daily “(micro-channel public number ID: auto-time), Author: Ding unique.
Image source: Xiaopeng Motors
Author| Ding Only
Edit| Wang Yan
In October 2020, Xiaopeng Motors Chairman He Xiaopeng returned to his alma mater, South China University of Technology, and held the “Xpeng Automobile Smart Day” activities on campus. He Xiaopeng, who returned to his alma mater, was not only too excited to hide his excitement. At the press conference, he also set up a flag. In the first quarter of 2021, Xiaopeng Motors’ vehicles will use high-speed autonomous navigation driving (NGP) to drive northward from Guangzhou. And arrived in Beijing, the whole journey was more than 2,000 kilometers.
Now, half a year has passed, and the time He Xiaopeng had set up the Flag has also come true.
Starting from March 19th, Xiaopeng Motors started an NGP expedition. A fleet of more than a dozen Xiaopeng P7 vehicles departed from Guangzhou all the way northward, passing through several major cities such as Quanzhou, Wenzhou, and Shanghai, and finally arrived in Beijing, covering a total distance of 3,675 kilometers. Among them, the high-speed mileage that can use the NGP function exceeds 3,145 kilometers.
This time, Future Automobile Daily (ID: auto-time) participated in the experience section from Qingdao to Jinan. The length of the route is 520km, and the section with the NGP function turned on is 385.73km.
According to the official statistics of Xiaopeng Motors, the NGP function takes over an average of 0.48 times per 100 kilometers, the success rate of lane change and overtaking is 97.36%, the success rate of entering and exiting the high-speed ramp is 93.29%, and the success rate of tunnel passing is 98.33%.
Turn on high speed in “hosted” mode
NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot), the full name of “NGP Automated Navigation Assisted Driving”, is an intelligent Xiaopeng car. It has developed an automatic navigation assisted driving function for localized traffic scenarios and is equipped with XPILOT 3.0 system. On P7.
Although NGP can cover most highways, Xiaopeng Motors officially stated that NGP’s high-speed autonomous navigation driving function still belongs to the category of “assisted driving”.This function can help the driver to complete the journey more easily and safely, but it is by no means a complete replacement for the driver.
So during this experience, when the driver operates the NGP system for the first time, the first thing he needs to complete is a “quiz” on the Xiaopeng Automobile APP. After watching the 5-minute guide video, you can use the NGP function normally after passing the exam with 11 multiple-choice questions. During use, the driver cannot completely free his hands and feet, and needs to be prepared to take over the vehicle at any time.
A tester told Future Auto Daily (ID: auto-time) that there are two most basic elements required to enable the NGP function. One is to ensure that the area covered by the high-definition map is Highways and urban expressways.
At 9:30 in the morning, the Xiaopeng P7 experienced by Future Auto Daily departed from Qingdao and drove onto the Qinglan Expressway, passing Weifang all the way to Jinan.
After the vehicle is on a high speed, the central navigation and instrumentation have identified and prompted that the NGP can be turned on. Press the shift lever on the right side of the steering wheel twice to turn on the NGP function. The whole NGP can realize the three main functions of changing lanes and overtaking, entering and exiting ramps, and passing through tunnels.
Among the three core indicators, lane changing and overtaking is the most frequently used function. Among the vehicles experienced in this Future Auto Daily, NGP achieved a total of 75 lane changes and overtakings throughout the entire journey, and there were no prompts for takeover or downgrade (automatically downgrading to LCC).
During the driving process, Xiaopeng NGP can accurately judge the distance between the front and rear vehicles and the speed of the oncoming vehicles from the rear. Under no danger, the lane change process is more decisive, comparable to an “old driver”.
However, a slight difference from the manual driving logic is that the manual driving logic will choose a diagonal acceleration to change lanes, while Xiaopeng NGP chooses to merge into the side lane first and then choose to accelerate.
Xpeng NGP’s judgment on the speed of vehicles coming from behind also makes the driver more worry-free. In a total of 75 lane changes and overtakes, sometimes after NGP prompts “overtaking to the left”, the vehicle behind the left lane starts to speed up, and the NGP will choose to overtake. After the vehicle has completely passed, the NGP will change lanes and overtake.