In this, your first DVN-Lidar Newsletter of 2025, you will find a special report on Xpeng’s intelligent driving and sensing strategy. Up to now, Xpeng—like most Chinese NEV makers—has used lidar to develop NOA (navigation on autopilot) features. That has changed recently with some new models, like their P7+ launching without lidar. Will Xpeng copy Tesla’s insistence on sliding by with just a few cameras, even as the world’s regulators and safety organizations grow increasingly alarmed at Tesla cars’ tendency to get in whole kinds of crashes other makes don’t? No, Xpeng is more conservative; they’ve got three radars in addition to the vision (camera) system.
NOA is the leading application in China with high install rates on NEVs, and it will be really interesting in 2025 to track the strategies of the automakers after Xpeng’s announcement. This is one reason we’re increasing the scope of our coverage to all the key technologies competing for L2+, L3, and L4 systems: cameras, radar, and lidar. You’ll find details of the scope expansion in today’s newsletter.
And don’t miss our special report on the EU microwawe radar conference, and the preliminary docket for the DVN AEB workshop in Detroit.
Upcoming DVN Events
• USA : AEB Workshop—Spotlight on FMVSS 127 (Detroit, 9-10 April)
• China : EAC Lidar Tech Conference & Expo (Hangzhou, 4-6 June), co-hosted by DVN
• Europe : DVN Sensing Conference—Spotlight on NOA sensing strategy (Wiesbaden, 17-18 September)
We’re ever so glad you’re here with us in the DVN-Sensing community. Enjoy this 34th newsletter!
All best,
Alain Servel
DVN LIDAR ADVISOR