Xiaopeng Motors has announced a solution for some old owners of Xiaopeng P5.
On November 3rd, Xiaopeng Motors released the "Explanation on Upgrading the Functions of Xiaopeng P5 Urban NGP", stating that due to the consideration of many objective factors affecting the opening of P5 urban NGP, it is aimed at current owners of Xiaopeng P5 P version who have already obtained XPILOT 3.5 intelligent driving assistance software as of 16:00 on November 3rd, 2023, and has launched a 20000 yuan intelligent driving first enjoy voucher rights. The benefits are applicable to the purchase of Xiaopeng G6, P7i, G9, and X9 models equipped with the XNGP intelligent driving assistance system. They can be used for the first purchase, additional purchase, or exchange purchase, and can be used by the car owner's designated purchaser.
Recently, a rights protection letter from the owner of Xiaopeng P5 has been widely forwarded online. The letter describes that the CNGP (City Navigation Assisted Driving) function promised by Xiaopeng Automobile has not been implemented yet, and the P5 car does not support upgrading to the next generation intelligent cockpit system.
Xiaopeng Automobile responded that the landing of CNGP was severely restricted by high-precision maps.
In the above announcement, Xiaopeng Automobile explained that the urban NGP of Xiaopeng P5 is a city intelligent driving assistance function that relies heavily on high-precision map technology. The opening of this function is affected by many factors, and not only requires a long research and development process of collection, production, verification, and multiple tests to improve the reliability and safety of use, but also requires the approval of urban map information to be completed according to regulations, This makes it difficult to achieve rapid coverage of different cities.
The high-precision map that has been "dumped" is actually a technological route that has been weakened or even abandoned by many car companies in the past two years.
At present, both Xiaopeng Automobile and Huawei are downplaying the role of high-precision maps in intelligent driving, but in fact, this route has been highly praised before. During the 2023 National People's Congress and National People's Congress, CEO He Xiaopeng of Xiaopeng Automobile also proposed the suggestion of "accelerating the process of reviewing high-precision urban maps", calling for allowing and encouraging the updating of maps through crowdsource methods.
However, map collection is related to national security, with stricter regulations and very high entry barriers. According to Guojin Securities, the A-level surveying and mapping qualification is the threshold for entering the navigation map industry, and high data security requires high qualifications. Currently, there are a total of 19 companies nationwide with this qualification, a significant reduction from 28 in 2020. This is also an important reason why intelligent driving companies are trying to bypass the map.
In addition, Xiaopeng also stated in the announcement that for the P5 model, OTA (online upgrade) will continue, and functions such as smart scene, steering assistance, sentry mode optimization, map optimization, NetEase cloud music access, and instrument display lyrics will gradually be launched in 2024. However, Xiaopeng did not mention in the announcement whether the 5th generation Xiaopeng intelligent cockpit system "XOS Tianji" will be compatible with the old Xiaopeng P5 model.
Delivery data shows that Xiaopeng Automobile delivered a total of 20000 new cars in October, an increase of 31% month on month and 292% year on year, setting a new record for single month delivery.