Xpeng Involved in New Battery and L3/L4 Standards as L2 Penetration Hits 70.5%

In July, the new national battery standard—considered the industry's "strictest ever"—officially took effect. Concurrently, the country's first mandatory national standard for L3 and L4 autonomous driving was released, further raising automotive safety requirements. He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xpeng Group, said that Xpeng participated in drafting both the new battery standard and the L3/L4 mandatory standard. He noted that Xpeng and other emerging automakers introduced highway assisted driving to China around 2020 and have since expanded globally.

He Xiaopeng stated that an increasing number of automakers are making assisted driving a standard feature. Both Chinese and global consumers demand intelligent driving, but many owners cannot distinguish between autonomous and assisted driving or judge the capabilities of intelligent functions. A comprehensive, systematic mandatory standard is therefore needed. This standard ensures automakers have strengths in relevant areas while also addressing weaknesses in autonomous driving by filling gaps in the system framework. Xpeng began early research on mandatory standards for autonomous driving and the "three-electric system," and its assisted driving records low safety takeover rates per 10,000 kilometers and low collision rates in highway scenarios.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology data show that since 2026, the penetration rate of L2 combined assisted driving functions in passenger vehicles has reached 70.5%, and navigation-assisted driving functions reached 34.2%. The first batch of L3 conditional autonomous driving models has already been deployed on roads in specific regions. As a result, different autonomous driving levels face new safety standard requirements, and automakers must adjust accordingly.

Xpeng's second-generation VLA is undergoing a major model upgrade with the launch of version 6.3.0. The end-side model's parameter count has increased by 3.5 times to enhance generalization across different vehicle models and countries. The new version integrates VLA and VLM in the cockpit and releases some Robotaxi L4 functions, including starting from standstill, pulling over, and roaming parking lots to find spaces. Through the VLM large model, human-machine interactions such as fuzzy navigation, voice-activated pull-over, and voice-based nearby parking are enabled. Xpeng plans to launch its next-generation physical AI in 2027.