XPENG

Autonomous Vehicles · Robotaxi · EV

Milestone

XPENG names robotaxi YOYO, opens invite-only trials in Guangzhou

A vision-only system without lidar or HD maps aims to scale across cities faster than sensor-heavy robotaxi rivals.

• XPENG officially named its robotaxi business "XPENG YOYO" on October 8 and opened invitation-based ride-hailing registration to the public in Guangzhou via a dedicated mini-program.
• YOYO is built on XPENG's GX flagship SUV, extending the AI stack behind its L2 driver-assistance systems into L4 autonomous ride-hailing rather than building a separate robotaxi platform.
• Each vehicle runs four in-house Turing AI chips delivering 3,000 TOPS of compute and XPENG's second-generation VLA2.0 model, relying entirely on cameras instead of lidar or HD maps.
• XPENG had logged more than 2,000 internal test rides in Guangzhou since July and won approval in August for road tests without a safety operator in the driver's seat on designated roads.
• Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng says XPENG will act as a technology supplier, earning from hardware sales, software services and commission splits while partners handle day-to-day fleet operations.
• XPENG targets fully driverless passenger service without safety operators by 2027, with He Xiaopeng saying the Guangzhou business could break even per vehicle as early as the second half of that year.
• By skipping lidar and HD maps and outsourcing fleet operations to partners, XPENG is betting its camera-only L2-to-L4 approach can scale across cities faster and with less capital than vertically integrated rivals like Waymo.