Why wait? China should skip a step in self-driving cars, Xpeng founder and CEO says

South China Morning Post · Mar 2, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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He Xiaopeng, founder and CEO of the Guangzhou-based company, said on Monday that the country should skip an intermediate step and move directly to a more advanced version of autonomous capabilities, adding that Beijing should adjust regulations and policies faster to make this happen.He said he would submit this proposal to China’s lawmakers in the “two sessions” – the annual legislative meetings of China’s two main political bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference – which kick off on Wednesday. He is an NPC delegate.“Autonomous driving research and development has reached a watershed moment,” He said, speaking at the company’s headquarters, where he introduced the second edition of Xpeng’s autonomous driving technology. The upgraded Vision Language Action (VLA) model aims to take the company to Level 4 (L4) autonomous capabilities from the current L2.In standards set by SAE International, L2 refers to partial driving automation, where the car can control steering, acceleration and deceleration but still requires drivers to remain hands-on at all times. L3 is considered a “hands-off” system but still requires drivers to be alert and ready to take over, while L4 allows drivers to take their eyes off the road. L5 is a fully automated system with no need for human intervention.Most carmakers are currently applying L2 technology in mass-produced vehicles and eyeing L3.