XPENG Targets 2027 Global Rollout for VLA 2.0 Autonomous Driving System
EV manufacturer XPENG plans a global rollout for its VLA 2.0 autonomous driving system by 2027. The company announced its launch in March, positioning VLA 2.0 as China's first AI driving model with L4 potential. Dr. Xianming Liu, head of XPENG's General Intelligence Center, stated that the system, based on 'physical AI,' represents a fundamental shift from previous autonomous driving paradigms, aiming to overcome limitations in scaling and generalization.
EV manufacturer XPENG is targeting a global rollout for its next-generation VLA 2.0 autonomous driving system by 2027. The company announced its launch plans in March, describing VLA 2.0 as China's first AI driving model with L4 potential. This marks a significant development in the pursuit of self-driving vehicle technology.
Dr. Xianming Liu, head of XPENG's General Intelligence Center, highlighted the VLA 2.0 system as potentially key to achieving fully self-driving capabilities. Autonomous driving systems are categorized into six levels by SAE International, ranging from Level 0 (no automation) to Level 5 (full automation). Most currently available systems operate at Level 2, offering partial driving automation, including Tesla's Assisted Driving. Some automakers, like Mercedes-Benz, have achieved Level 3, providing conditional automation under specific, narrow circumstances. Level 4 represents a higher degree of automation, nearing a state where a driver is not required.
A test ride in an XPENG P7 equipped with VLA 2.0 demonstrated its capabilities, navigating various challenging road conditions in Beijing, including city roads, rural streets, and busy pedestrian traffic, with minimal driver intervention. The vehicle also performed self-parking after passengers exited. While not yet a completely autonomous system requiring occasional driver input, VLA 2.0 was described as safe, efficient, and refined.
Liu explained that VLA 2.0, which stands for Vision-Language-Action, signifies a fundamental change compared to XPENG's earlier Level 2 Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) system. While NGP focused on developing autonomous driving within a traditional framework of perception, prediction, planning, and control, VLA 2.0 focuses on solving what Liu refers to as "physical AI problems." Liu noted that traditional systems have limitations in scaling and generalizing across different scenarios, suggesting that a shift to an AI-centric approach addresses these challenges.
According to Mashable Tech, XPENG does not currently claim that VLA 2.0 is ready for completely driverless operations, acknowledging safety incidents experienced by other robotaxi companies.
