Chinese EV maker Xpeng launches rival to Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system

The latest challenge to the U.S. electric vehicle giant is Xpeng's new feature that allows its cars to navigate autonomously.

The start-up announced Monday that it was testing a feature called City N GP, which stands for navigation guided pilot.

City N GP will allow the vehicle to perform a full range of driving tasks, including cruising at a safe distance from a car ahead, changing lanes and overtaking, getting around stationary automobiles or objects, and maintaining an appropriate speed through the route.

It is not designed for highways. The number of potential objects and scenarios a driver might face make urban areas more difficult to drive in.

The premium version of the P5 sedan is being tested with some users in Guangzhou, where the company is based.

Last year, Xpeng released Xpilot 3.5, the latest version of its advanced driver-assistance system.

CNBC reported that the full self driving prototype is far from ready after it was tested with customers in the U.S.

The vice president of Xpeng told CNBC on Monday that the pilot of City N GP brings the company one step closer to full independence.

The reliability and safety of Xpeng's system will need to be proved before Chinese regulators will allow the company to roll out the feature across the country.

The plethora of Chinese electric car companies are competing in a fiercely competitive market. Rivals including Nio and Jidu are working on such technology.

The trialing of City NGP will need to be updated. Drivers will have to log over 100 kilometers of driving before City N GP can be used on all available roads.

Xpeng is trialing the City Navigation Guided Pilot (NGP) with select users of its P5 sedan in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. City NGP is designed to allow the car to autonomously carry out tasks such as lane changing or overtaking vehicles in a complex urban environment. A driver is still required behind the wheel.

The P5 sedan is equipped with Lidar technology. Laser beams are used to create a three-dimensional representation of the vehicle's surroundings.

The City N GP will be available in future models of the G9 sports utility vehicle, which will be launched in China on Wednesday.

Many of its competitors rely on chips from U.S. firm Nvidia.

The U.S. government restricted the export of certain chips to China last month.

The chip on the server side isn't on the car. There is no risk of restrictions for the civilian use of the artificial intelligence chips used in the electric vehicle.

According to CNBC, the majority of Chinese electric vehicle makers will not be affected by the U.S. restrictions on chip exports due to the fact that the chips are used in data centers.