XPeng Launches Robotaxi Production, Challenges Tesla on Self-Driving

XPeng is taking aim at Tesla on two fronts at once. The Chinese electric vehicle maker has begun series production of a fully autonomous robotaxi while simultaneously claiming its in-house vision system already beats Tesla's Full Self-Driving on tight urban roads in China. The dual push sent shares up more than 3% on Thursday, though the stock remains deeply below its 52-week peak.

Vision Over LiDAR

CEO He Xiaopeng has declared that LiDAR sensors are no longer necessary for autonomous driving in passenger cars — a notable reversal for a company that previously relied on dual-LiDAR configurations. The new vision-language-action system, he said, outperforms Tesla's FSD on narrow Chinese streets today. XPeng has set a concrete deadline of August 2026 to officially surpass Tesla's FSD performance in the Chinese market, citing advantages in local driving adaptation and domestic data processing.

The shift to a pure camera solution is expected to lower hardware costs and enable wider deployment of intelligent driving features across the model lineup.

GX Orders Surge, Robotaxi Goes Serial

Alongside the technological pivot, XPeng launched the GX crossover and racked up nearly 25,000 firm orders in its first twelve hours. The vehicle is priced between 269,800 and 349,800 yuan — about a third below earlier pre-order estimates. Notably, eight out of ten buyers opted for the top-spec "Ultra" trim with high computing power, while more than half chose the all-electric BEV variant built on an 800-volt platform, offering up to 750 kilometers of range under the CLTC standard.

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The GX platform also underpins XPeng's first mass-produced robotaxi, which has just rolled off the assembly line. Featuring four self-developed Turing AI chips delivering 3,000 TOPS of computing power, the vehicle meets Level 4 autonomy standards — and does so without LiDAR. XPeng is the first company in China to bring a fully in-house designed autonomous vehicle to series production.

A pilot program is slated for the second half of 2026 to test technical maturity, user acceptance, and the business model, with full driverless operation targeted for early 2027. The groundwork was laid earlier this year: XPeng received a road test permit for L4 vehicles in Guangzhou in January 2026 and established a dedicated robotaxi business unit in March.

Global Ambitions and Domestic Headwinds

XPeng is also pressing ahead with international expansion. From June 2026 it will enter the Middle East, followed by Europe in October. In Europe, the P7+ model will be assembled at Magna Steyr's facility in Austria. The company has set a 2026 delivery target of 550,000 to 600,000 units.

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The home market, however, presents a challenge. Between January and April 2026, XPeng delivered roughly 94,000 vehicles — a 27.4% decline year-on-year. The stock trades at around 13.42 euros, more than 44% below its 52-week high of 24.30 euros. Thursday's rally of over 3% looks more like a counter-move in an otherwise weak trend than a sustained turnaround.

Investors are looking ahead to the first-quarter 2026 earnings report, due on May 28. XPeng posted its first-ever quarterly profit in the fourth quarter of 2025, and the Q1 numbers will need to show how much the recent price cuts on the GX are weighing on margins. Until then, the market is watching whether the robotaxi milestone and the Tesla challenge can shift the narrative — and the stock price.

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