XPeng’s City NGP expands reach in China, launching as the first ADAS on urban roads of Beijing
XPeng Motors’ City NGP Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) is now available in the China’s capital city of Beijing – the first automaker to make the technology available. With today’s expansion, City NGP is already available in four of China’s largest cities as the EV automaker looks to cover dozens of additional territories later this year.
In September of 2022, XPeng Motors announced the launch of a pilot program for its City Navigation Pilot (NGP) ADAS. With its debut, XPeng claimed to be the first Chinese company to deliver such an “high-level” driver assistance for complex urban driving – a clear public challenge Tesla’s Full-Self-Driving (FSD) technology, although the American automaker’s tech is not currently available in the China. That may soon change, however.
The “Highway” version of XPeng’s NGP was originally launched in China back Q1 of 2021 on the premium trim of its P7 sedan, functioning without LiDAR, but with limited potential is limited – it allows for assisted driving on highways and expressways, but not for city-level driving. That EV has since seen a refresh to the P7i, which comes equipped with LiDAR to support XNGP.
XPeng first teased its City NGP in a video 2021, showcasing a beta version of the software navigating busy urban streets in China without human interference. By July 2022, XPeng had shared even more comprehensive footage of City NGP in action, and it was quite impressive.
City NGP has been enabling XPeng drivers to navigate congested areas in Guangzhou for nearly a year and has since enabled driver assistance in the cities of Shenzen and Shanghai. Now, the ADAS technology has become the first to roll out in China’s capital city of Beijing.
XPeng the first to offer urban ADAS in China’s capital
According to the automaker, a beta version of City NGP is rolling out to drivers of the G9 Max and P7i Max EVs in Beijing via over-the-air (OTA) software update. XPeng’s P5 P version is also receiving an OTA upgraded to Xmart OS 3.5.0, which will enable the ADAS function in China’s capital. Per the release:
Under XPENG’s next-generation ADAS, XNGP, the City NGP is set to improve its handling of lane changing, bypassing and following other vehicles etc. The function has been enhancing driving expertise equivalent to one year of human driver experience every quarter. Its goal is to elevate driving efficiency, comfort, and human-machine interaction, ultimately providing a seamless driving experience comparable to that of an experienced driver.
With the addition of Beijing, City NGP is now operational in four major cities of China, but XPeng says it’s just getting started. The automaker shared plans to expand City NGP to “dozens of cities” in China this year. That should begin in the second half of 2023, when the automaker intends to gradually release ADAS functions for urban areas without HD map coverage in addition to customized NGP capabilities for daily commuting nationwide.
While not all XPeng drivers in China may be able to take advantage of City NGP just yet, the automaker is working to “cater to a wider range of driving scenarios and provide enhanced intelligent driving experiences for users in various environments.”
XPeng says it will lean heavily on its XNet deep learning neural network to accelerate the expansion of ADAS coverage in new cities around China.
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Tesla average transaction prices (ATPs) in March are estimated at $54,582, higher year-over-year by 3.5% and higher than in February, according to the latest monthly new-vehicle ATP report from Cox Automotive’s Kelley Blue Book.
Average transaction prices for the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y were higher month-over-month and year-over-year in March. Tesla’s sales in Q1 continued their long-term decline after peaking in Q1 2023. Estimates from Kelley Blue Book suggest Tesla’s sales in Q1 2025 were lower year-over-year by more than 8%. Its deliveries were also worse than expected.
New EV prices in March overall are initially estimated by Kelley Blue Book to be $59,205, higher year-over-year by 7.0%. New EV prices increased from the revised higher February ATP of $57,015.
The ATP for an EV last month was nearly 25% higher than the industry average of $47,462, widening the price gap between new EVs and gas-powered cars even more.
But EVs are still seeing heftier incentives than the industry average. In March, the average EV incentive came in at 13.3% of the transaction price – down 1% from February’s revised 14.3% but still well above what gas cars are getting.
So, where are we heading? Higher prices, thanks to Trump’s tariffs. But what that will look like remains to be seen. Erin Keating, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, said, “All signs point to higher prices this summer, as existing ‘pre-tariff’ inventory is sold down to be eventually replaced with ‘tariffed’ inventory. How high prices rise for consumers is still very much to be determined, as each automaker will handle the price puzzle differently.”
Read more: EV incentives surged to 14.8% of ATP in Feb – highest in 5+ years
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BYD just launched the first EVs based on its new Super e-platform with ultra-fast charging. The new Han L sedan and Tang L SUV can gain nearly 250 miles range in 5 minutes, and prices start at just $30,000.
Meet BYD’s new EVs with ultra-fast charging
During a launch event on April 9, BYD introduced the new EV models, claiming its engineers have “achieved the master realm of Chinese technology.”
The Han L and Tang L are the first EVs based on BYD’s 1000V Super e-platform. After unveiling the ultra-fast EV charging platform last month, BYD’s CEO, Wang Chuanfu, said to ease charging anxiety, “The ultimate solution is to make charging as quick as refueling a gasoline car.”
That solution is now here. BYD’s new Han L is available in three trims, starting at just 219,800 yuan ($30,000), lower than the pre-sale price of 270,000 yuan ($36,800).
BYD’s new electric sedan is 5,050 mm long, 1,960 mm wide, and 1,505 mm tall, or about the size of a Tesla Model S (5,021 mm long, 1,987 mm wide, and 1,431 mm tall).
All variants are powered by an 83.2 kWh BYD Blade battery, providing up to 435 miles (701 km) of CLTC driving range. Based on BYD’s 1,000V architecture, the Han L comes with two charge guns with an up to 10C charge rate.
Nearly 250 miles in just 5 minutes?
With ultra-fast charging, the electric sedan can gain 400 km (248 miles) in just five minutes. In six minutes, it can recharge from 10% to 70%, and in just 20 minutes, it can fully recharge (0% to 100%) the battery.
Like all its new EV models, the Han L is equipped with BYD’s God’s Eye smart driving assist system. It features the mid-tier “B” version and DiPilot 300.
BYD’s new electric SUV, the Tang L, is also offered in three trims. It starts at 239,800 yuan ($32,700), also below the pre-sale price of 280,000 yuan ($38,200).
The Tang L is also based on BYD’s 1,000V architecture and ultra-fast charging platform. Powered by a 100.5 kWh battery, it has a CLTC range of up to 435 miles (701 km) and can gain 230 miles (370 km) in 5 minutes. It will take about 30 minutes to go from 0% to 100%.
BYD’s electric SUV is 5,040 mm long, 1996 mm wide, and 1,760 mm tall, or slightly bigger than the new Tesla Model Y Juniper in China (4,797 mm long, 1,920 mm wide, and 1,624 mm tall).
Like the Han L EV, the electric SUV has BYD’s God’s Eye B ADAS system with DiPilot 300. Both the Han L and Tang are available as PHEVs, starting at 209,800 yuan ($28,500) and 229,800 yuan ($31,300).
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The fintech sector is rallying Wednesday following the Trump administration’s announcement of a 90-day pause on planned tariffs.
Affirm was up 20%, Toast and Block rose 13% and PayPal increased 10%.
The 90-day pause doesn’t eliminate the threat of tariffs — it just delays it. Investors are still pricing in risk, including inflation, discretionary pullbacks, hardware import costs and credit exposure.
Legacy payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard, both up 6%, continue to benefit from inflation and their structural ties to nominal GDP. These companies take a percentage of every transaction. That makes rising prices a tailwind.
“If prices are moving up for certain goods and you’re paying with a credit card, it’s actually good for the credit card companies,” said Dan Dolev, a fintech analyst at Mizuho.
Their pricing structure has historically made them resilient during inflationary periods, including recessions. The situation is less rosy for the new wave of consumer lending fintechs.
Affirm, which specializes in allowing consumers to buy now and pay later, could suffer if consumers pull back spending when the pause is lifted as a result of tariffs causing prices to rise. The San Francisco-based company could see its revenue less transaction costs margins — essentially what the company pockets after paying processing fees and customer incentives — drop more than 22% in that scenario, according to a Goldman Sachs estimate on Tuesday.
The adoption of buy now, pay later may rise as consumers hit credit limits, said SIG analyst James Friedman, but he added that the model remains untested in a downturn.
Toast, Block and Fiserv, which was up 6%, develop software used by restaurants and small businesses. Those companies could face rising hardware costs and softening demand from customers if the tariffs go through.
Meanwhile, cross-border payments — one of the most profitable segments for Visa, Mastercard and PayPal — remain under pressure as global travel slows and e-commerce flows adjust to the uncertainties of Trump’s tariffs.
Even remittance players such as Remitly and Western Union, both up 8%, could face longer-term pain if immigration pipelines slow or remittance corridors tighten under regulatory scrutiny. Similar to cross-border commerce, remittances depend on a steady flow of people and transactions, both of which remain fragile.
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