Humanoid robots and… vary extenders?

XPeng Motors celebrated its annual Tech Day occasion in China earlier right this moment, which was renamed “AI Day” for good cause. The subject of synthetic intelligence dominated the Chinese language mobility firm’s incoming applied sciences, which have been considerable. We bought updates on a brand new in-house AI computing chip, a brand new Xpeng platform to help Stage 4 autonomous robotaxis, flying vehicles, and eVTOLs, a brand new humanoid robotic referred to as “Iron,” full with an existential launch video, and a shocking adoption of combustion-powered extenders that ship as much as 970 miles of further vary.

At the moment marked XPeng Motor’s sixth consecutive Tech Day occasion – one thing we look ahead to every fall as it’s positive to be stuffed with thrilling updates and debuts from a mobility firm that continues to broaden and dabble in a bit little bit of all the pieces, not simply passenger EVs.

Final yr, we noticed the debut of XPeng’s X9 MPV, a humanoid robotic referred to as the PX5, and loads of AI-centric software program upgrades. Since then, we’ve seen the X9 formally launch in China together with a rollout of OTA updates to XPeng’s working techniques, together with its XNGP ADAS.

This previous April, through the Beijing Auto Present, XPeng gave the general public a preview of a few of the applied sciences defined additional throughout right this moment’s Tech Day occasion. That included AI-centric chips, Stage 4 autonomous robotaxis plans, and a brand new neural community referred to as “XNet.” We additionally noticed some contemporary updates, together with a brand new humanoid robotic, an eVTOL, and a brand new fuel vary extender that might ship a few of the farthest-driving automobiles on the earth. Let’s dig in.

XPeng shares flying automotive replace throughout Tech Day 2024

There’s lots to unfold right here, however we’ll begin with a mainstay in XPeng information, flying vehicles by means of its air mobility entity, AeroHT. At the moment’s talks have been led by the “Land Plane Service” – an eVTOL/automobile combo that debuted final yr.

As we beforehand reported, the revolutionary land and air automobile is slotted for scaled manufacturing in 2026, and AeroHT not too long ago broke floor on the ability in China that can construct them. There’s not a lot of an replace right here. Nonetheless, XPeng founder and chairman He Xiaopeng reiterated that the Land Air Service will showcase its first public flight demonstration later this month earlier than pre-orders open in December.

In September, AeroHT founder and president Zhao Deli stated the modular eVTOL/van combo can be priced at not more than RMB 2 million ($279,200).

Along with its modular Land Air Service and eventual plans for a bonafide flying BEV with propellers on its roof, Xiaopeng shared that AeroHT can be creating a devoted full tilt-rotor eVTOL that includes six seats and hybrid energy. The aerial vessel may have a most vary of 500+ km (311 miles) and attain a prime velocity of 360 km/h (224 mph).

These flying vehicles and eVTOLs will likely be powered by a brand new AI “Turing” chip developed in-house by XPeng.

In-house AI chips and a brand new platform

XPeng renamed its Tech Day occasion “AI Day” this yr for a cause. Synthetic intelligence was on the forefront of most of He Xiaopeng’s conversations on stage, and the debut of the mobility firm’s new Turing chip was additionally part of the occasion.

The corporate showcased a brand new Turing AI Clever Driving System, powered by XPeng’s proprietary Turing AI chip, described as “a world-first chip designed for AI automobiles, robots, and flying vehicles.” The brand new chip includes a 40-core processor and helps fashions with as much as 30 billion parameters, delivering the ability of three high-performance chips in a single.

Xiaopeng defined that the Turin chip has already accomplished over 2,700 useful verifications in a mere 40 days and has achieved 3 times the {industry} normal for improvement effectivity throughout that point.

Along with powering XPeng’s flying vehicles and humanoid robots (extra on that beneath), Xiaopeng used the 2024 Tech Day occasion to unveil a brand new Canghai Platform that can allow full Stage 4 autonomous driving. XPeng has already been promising absolutely autonomous robotaxis by 2025, and we now have a greater thought of the know-how that can help that, once more, centered round its new Turing AI chip.

The corporate defined that the brand new platform would act because the beforehand teased neural community for XPeng’s new line of AI-centric automobiles, supporting driving (with or with out a human within the driver’s seat) with enhanced security options, 33x bandwidth, and 12x quicker digicam picture processing, thus creating “a basis for full-scenario AI-enabled driving experiences.”

The “Hawkeye” pure imaginative and prescient ADAS system can see the world round it at 720 levels with out blind spots. Per XPeng throughout Tech Day:

XPeng’s Turing AI system marks a pivotal step towards L4 autonomy, with continuous mannequin updates from cloud-based fashions, guaranteeing a extremely responsive, ever-evolving sensible driving expertise.

Along with autonomous robotaxis, XPeng’s Turing AI chip will energy a brand new humanoid robotic referred to as “Iron” which made its official debut at Tech Day.

XPeng introduces a brand new humanoid robotic referred to as “Iron”

One of many stars of right this moment’s occasion was Iron, a critical improve to the robots XPeng has debuted at Tech Days prior to now. With right this moment’s debut, XPeng turns into the most recent tech firm creating and implementing spectacular robotic know-how that might in the future take over full meeting of its automobiles.

Per XPeng, the Turing AI chip allows the Iron bots to assume and keep in mind like people (spooky) and likewise allows its fingers and ft to maneuver autonomously. The robotic’s fingers additionally use a 1:1 human hand dimension, with 15 levels of freedom.

The debut included an attention-grabbing video through which Iron steps right into a room and admires well-known sculptures like Rodin’s “The Thinker” and “Discobolus” by Myron. Iron even copies the Discobolus pose, as seen in XPeng’s video beneath:

XPeng’s Tech Day occasion features a new fuel vary extender

Maybe the most important shock from XPeng’s 2024 Tech Day was the information that it’s shifting its enterprise technique from all-BEV to incorporate some combustion with a brand new gas-powered vary extender.

On the stage in Guangzhou earlier right this moment, He Xiaopeng unveiled XPeng’s Kunpeng Tremendous Electrical System. Xiaopeng says this next-generation resolution “brings collectively XPeng’s developments in newest AI-defined mobility improvements to ship an unparalleled charging and vary expertise.”

The system consists of an 800V platform powered by XPeng’s battery know-how, which helps 5C quick charging and might cost from 10% to 80% in 12 minutes. New to the social gathering is a hybrid silicon carbide coaxial electrical drive, which, in response to XPeng, will provide industry-leading effectivity and reliability. The vary extender can be further quiet, outputting noise ranges as little as 1 dB.

The automaker has additionally as soon as once more built-in AI into the ability optimization system, which allows a seamless transition between pure electrical and range-extended driving modes. As you possibly can see from the Tech Day picture above, XPeng’s new system presents 430 km (267 miles) of all-electric vary and a mixed vary of over 1,400 km (870 miles).

That’s lots to absorb, nevertheless it’s all for now. Verify again with Electrek quickly as we await the official launch of XPeng’s subsequent BEV mannequin, the P7+. Within the meantime, you possibly can watch the total 2024 Tech Day presentation on XPeng’s Weibo web page.