XPeng

Xpeng or Xiaopeng Motors (Chinese: 小鹏汽车), also known as XMotors.ai, is a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. The company is headquartered in Guangzhou, with offices in Mountain View, California in the US.

Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co Ltd
IndustryAutomotive
Founded2014 (2014)
FounderHe Xiaopeng
Xia Heng
He Tao
Yang Chunlei[1]
HeadquartersGuangzhou, China
Key people
He Xiaopeng (chairman)
Brian Gu Hongdi (vice chairman)
Number of employees
3000+ approx. (2018)
Websitewww.xiaopeng.com
XPeng
Traditional Chinese小鵬汽車
Simplified Chinese小鹏汽车

History

Xpeng was co-founded in 2014 by Henry Xia (Xia Heng) and He Tao, former senior executives at GAC Group with expertise in automotive technology and R&D. Initial backers included He Xiaopeng (now Chairman of Xpeng), founder of UCWeb and former Alibaba executive, and Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi. Prominent Chinese and international investors included Alibaba, Foxconn and IDG Capital. A further funding round in 2018 saw Alibaba's vice president Joseph Tsai join the corporate board of Xpeng.[2][3]

Xpeng's subsidiary in America XMotors.ai held a permit for testing self-driving cars by the California Department of Motor Vehicles from September 2018.[4]The permit was revoked in February 2020 due to Xpeng failing to submit a disengagement report.[5]

Xpeng launched its first production model, the Xpeng G3 SUV, in December 2018, at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, with first delivery to customers the following spring.[6][7] Its second model, the P7 four-door electric sedan, premiered in April 2019 at the 2019 Auto Shanghai show, with delivery to Chinese customers scheduled for Q2 2020.[8]

In May 2019, Xpeng launched its own peer-to-peer ridesharing service, serving Guangzhou with its own vehicles.[9]

In November 2019, Xpeng raised $400 million in a third fundraising round, which sees Xiaomi joins as a strategic investor of Xpeng.[10][11]

Models

Controversies

In March 2019, Tesla accused an Xpeng employee of intellectual property theft of its Autopilot source code. Cao Guangzhi, a former Tesla employee and prospective Xpeng new hire, was alleged to have made unauthorized copies of Tesla's Autopilot source code before leaving Tesla to join Xpeng Motors. Cao admitted uploading Tesla's source code to his iCloud account prior to leaving Tesla, but denied claims of intellectual property theft.[12] Cao left the company in March 2020.[13]

In response to these accusations, Xpeng launched an internal investigation of the alleged theft, and found no evidence of transfer of the intellectual property.[12].

References
  1. Nan, Hua (24 December 2018). "This EV maker caters to young consumers by making driving easier and more fun". CompassList. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  2. Lin, Liza (28 January 2018). "Alibaba, Foxconn Invest in Chinese Electric-Vehicle Maker". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  3. "Alibaba, Foxconn lead $350 million funding in electric car startup". Reuters. 29 January 2018. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  4. Herger, Mario (5 September 2018). "Xmotors.ai 57th Company With California Test License". The Last Driver License Holder. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  5. Shaw, Keith (27 February 2020). "Self-driving vehicles drove nearly 2.9M test miles in California". The Robot Report. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  6. "Xpeng Motors premieres its EV-G3 at 2018 International with 4 prominent attributes to Usher in A new Era of Autonomous Driving Experience" (Press release). Xpeng Motors. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 12 July 2019 – via PR Newswire.
  7. Vijayenthiran, Viknesh (11 January 2018). "Chinese electric car startup Xpeng shows G3 SUV at 2018 CES". Motor Authority. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  8. Xie, Yu (16 April 2019). "Chinese electric vehicle maker Xpeng unveils P7 four-door coupe at Auto Shanghai 2019, months after SUV roll out". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  9. Liao, Rita (16 May 2019). "China's Tesla wannabe Xpeng starts ride-hailing service". TechCrunch. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  10. Kharpal, Arjun (13 November 2019). "Chinese Tesla rival Xpeng raises $400 million from investors such as Xiaomi". CNBC. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
  11. Korosec, Kirsten (13 November 2019). "Chinese EV startup XPeng Motors raises $400 million, takes on Xiaomi as strategic investor". TechCrunch. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
  12. O'Kane, Sean (10 July 2019). "Former Tesla employee admits uploading Autopilot source code to his iCloud". The Verge. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  13. "小鹏汽车自动驾驶副总裁离职，小鹏：公司业务不会受到影响" [Cao Guangzhi leaves XPeng]. Sina.com (in Chinese). 5 March 2020. Retrieved 5 March 2020.
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