Chinese electric car maker Xpeng traveled to Munich this week with more than just a new car. The company used the European launch of its L03 SUV to tell the world that it also makes robots and flying cars.
The launch event is billed as a “physical AI” event, a term Xpeng uses to describe its approach of combining self-made AI chips and large language models with physical products such as cars, robots and energy systems.
The company says this technology currently drives three product lines: electric cars, humanoid robots, and flying cars.
Xpeng is not a small player in electric vehicles. It has shipped more than a million cars in China and sold even more 60 thousand cars in Europe Since entering the market in 2024. It is now sold in 65 countries around the world.
At the event, CEO He Xiaopeng said that humanoid robots and flying cars are not science fiction anymore. In fact, a robot called Iron and a flying car called Aridge will soon be mass-produced.
Iron has also appeared at past company events for about a year. As Cryptopolitan previously reported, China is prioritizing Robots are more than models of artificial intelligence Unlike the United States
Although Aridge’s been in development for 13 years, he said it will be released in the near future for European customers.
Meanwhile, L03 It is a compact SUV that produces 180 kW of power with a WLTP range of up to 445 km. At a price of 35,600 euros, its price is lower than competing models from Tesla and Hyundai.
All three of Xpeng’s product lines, the car, robot and flying car, run on Turing chips, a processor the company developed internally, featuring 750 TOPS per chip and a 40-core processor.
Chasing Tesla on self-driving
Regarding autonomous driving, Xpeng has set a roadmap to reach level 4 autonomous driving by 2028.
This means the car can drive itself without human intervention under specific conditions, a step beyond the Level 2 systems that Tesla’s full self-driving systems and similar Chinese systems currently represent, where drivers must remain alert and ready to take control at a moment’s notice.
CEO Xpeng said the company’s VLA system actually outperforms Tesla’s FSD system on tight roads and in difficult situations.
Self-driving technology has already moved beyond Xpeng’s own cars, and Volkswagen began mass production of its first co-developed model in March, using Xpeng’s drive systems and Turing chips. The company is also building a robotaxi on the same technological framework.
Google Maps deal makes Xpeng the first of its kind in Asia
Exping too Announce Partnership with Google Maps for vehicles sold outside China, making it the first automaker from the Asia-Pacific region to ship vehicles with Google Maps integrated directly into the navigation system. Instead of requiring drivers to download the app or mirror their phone’s screen, Google Maps technology will be integrated natively into Xpeng’s mapping interface through the Google Maps Auto SDK.
The integration will support real-time traffic routing, electric vehicle trip planning, and energy estimation, and will also feed into Xpeng’s NGP assisted driving system. Overseas buyers of the L03 will be the first in the Xpeng lineup to get the enhanced experience.
The company has a dedicated R&D center in Munich, and the L03 will be on sale in 64 countries and regions.
Sven de Smet, Xping’s head of product in Europe, summed up the company’s proposition simply: “We are a technology company that makes cars. We are not a car company that uses technology.”
