He Xiaopeng: China and the U.S. Are Both in the First Tier of Autonomous Driving, but Chinese Roads Have "Ten Times More Complexity" Than the U.S.

Sina Tech reported on the evening of March 16 that He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng Motors, and Liu Xianming, head of XPeng’s General Intelligence Center, participated in a live broadcast today to discuss and share insights on the technological capabilities, deployment pace, and medium- to long-term plans of the second-generation VLA.

When asked about the gap in intelligent driving between China and the U.S., He Xiaopeng stated that autonomous driving is a comprehensive competition involving hardware and software, engineering capabilities, and scale. Currently, China and the U.S. are both in the top tier. However, China’s roads are ten times more complex than those in the U.S., and only by overcoming complex road conditions can the second-generation VLA truly achieve global deployment.

“I believe both China and the U.S. are leading in intelligent driving, each with their own strengths. Waymo and Tesla started working on autonomous driving early, but this field has many players, and L4 and L5 solutions are still unresolved. Because deploying autonomous driving requires a comprehensive contest of hardware, software, systems, and engineering capabilities. I think XPeng’s second-generation VLA is more suitable for global deployment, as China not only has highways and urban roads but also rural paths outside third- and fourth-tier cities, where you might even encounter cattle, sheep, or chickens while driving. XPeng is among the best teams in China, and I believe we will surpass the U.S. together with other Chinese competitors and go global,” He Xiaopeng said.

Liu Xianming added that China and the U.S. are on the same tier in autonomous driving, and both are making the fastest progress and development worldwide. China faces many challenging driving scenarios, such as more electric vehicles and pedestrians. We believe that solving the hardest part first makes it much easier to generalize to other scenarios later. China’s difficulties also present greater opportunities. In the most complex testing environments, there are no methodological issues, and we are basically leading the way. Over the past two years, the biggest change I’ve seen is the density of AI talent in China and the U.S. China has many excellent AI talents, and the government also places great importance on AI development. Therefore, we are full of confidence in the development of autonomous driving in China.