Xpeng Motors Premieres its EV-G3 at CES 2018 With a New Autonomous Driving Experience

author: Eric Walz   

LAS VEGAS — Xpeng Motors debuts its ready-to-sell, production car at the International CES 2018 in Las Vegas. It is the first mass production version of the intelligent car released by Chinese carmakers at CES.

Xpeng Motors named its first production model G3. "G" is for geek, and the number "3" is for its category. The vehicle has been designed to appeal to a younger demographic, and to express a "geek" lifestyle that includes an attitude of both exploration and innovation.

Xpeng also designed the G3 with sharpness and aggressiveness in mind. The curvature of the LED headlights forms a pointed edge reminiscent of a sword, in addition to a wide, sharp front lip, creating a grille-free front modeled in the style of a shark. Red brake calipers, suspension roof, spoiler, the one-piece diamond matrix tail lights, and other design elements all indicate a combination of aggressiveness and the symbolic nature of the G3.

The G3 is the first intelligent car equipped with a panoramic windshield imported from Italy, giving an unlimited view of the horizon from the inside, similar to a Tesla Model X. This was designed in such a way to feel like being in the cabin of a spaceship.

Inside the vehicle, the G3 offer a unique driving experience with the first 360-degree roof camera and large HD touch screen.

The driver's seat comes standard with a 12.3-inch full HD LCD panel and a 15.6-inch ultra-wide HD touch screen. The center console integrates music, navigation, real-time weather situations and vehicle status control. The console is positioned to lean slightly toward the driver (by 8 degrees), allowing easy access to the voice control and other functions.

The pioneering use of the 360-degree panoramic camera on the roof allows users to capture, save and share their pictures and video from anywhere.

The G3 has the most powerful self-driving hardware available in China and a customized camera structure to address the Asian driving environment. The G3 is equipped with 2 front-facing cameras, 2 side cameras, 4 panoramic cameras, 3 millimeter-wave radars, 12 ultrasonic radars and 2 intelligent cameras inside the cockpit—totaling 25 sensors within the vehicle, making the G3 the most powerful self-driving vehicle among all Chinese brands.

The camera architecture of G3 is an exclusive innovation of Xpeng Motors, engineered to address the driving environment in Asia. It is the first self-developed solution to accommodate different Asia-specific driving environments, including parking.

He Xiaopeng, the chairman of Xpeng Motors, declared that the self-parking feature of G3 will be able to handle most parking situations in China's daily lives. The G3 will also feature a self-developed high-frequency autonomous driving capability.

Xpeng provides OTA (over-the-air) cloud upgrade service for the G3, allowing users to remotely download and upgrade various official Xpeng applications. Through the exclusive app, users can also remotely control the doors and windows, air conditioning and the security system.

Xpeng Motors was the first to receive the China Compulsory Certification by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in July 2017, and released its first production car in October 2017. On December 3rd, He Xiaopeng drove the first plated Xpeng car on public roads in Beijing.

"From version 1.0 to the debut of G3 at CES, Xpeng Motors has always demonstrated our strength through fast iterations and executive ability," said company chairman He Xiaopeng. "Compared to traditional carmakers, intelligent carmakers are still quite young. We are in awe of traditions, but we dare to explore; we pursue speed, but we stay pragmatic. This is why Xpeng Motors and its users are attracted to each other and share the 'geek spirit' together."

The G3 will be available to the public in the spring of 2018, and its specific configurations and price will be revealed then.

Eric Walz

Originally hailing from New Jersey, Eric is a automotive & technology reporter covering the high-tech industry here in Silicon Valley. He has over 15 years of automotive experience and a bachelors degree in computer science. These skills, combined with technical writing and news reporting, allows him to fully understand and identify new and innovative technologies in the auto industry and beyond. He has worked at Uber on self-driving cars and as a technical writer, helping people to understand and work with technology.