S1E18: How to get from autonomous vehicles to flying cars

The Straits Times Podcasts

Technology is advancing at such a pace as Chinese electric vehicle brand Xpeng is aiming to prove to the global market.

Synopsis: In this special episode, The Straits Times' Lee Nian Tjoe meets Mr He Xiaopeng, the chairman and chief executive of Chinese electric vehicle brand, Xpeng.

By 2025, Xpeng cars will bring the driver from door-to-door with barely any human intervention and in 2026, it plans to deliver its first flying vehicle.

Xpeng is using automated driving technology to make driving safer and more relaxing.

The target, Mr He says, is to make the cars behave like “good drivers” on the road, adapt to local conditions and behaviours.

Concurrently, the company is taking to the skies. Its first flying vehicle will reach customers in 2026.

Highlights (click/tap above):

2:55 By 2025, Xpeng’s drivers will only need to step in to take control once or twice per 100km covered

3:45 Level 5 autonomous driving means that the vehicle can handle itself in all conditions, whether it is a typhoon or an earthquake

5:25 Automated driving technology does not mean drivers will lose their jobs

7:00 Flying cars?

8:46 How Xpeng picks its markets and goes about entering them

9:35 On why only a minority of car companies in China today will survive in the next five to 10 years

Read Lee Nian Tjoe's articles: https://str.sg/wt8G

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Host: Lee Nian Tjoe ([e-mail])

Produced & edited by: Amirul Karim and Teo Tong Kai

Executive producers: Ernest Luis and Lynda Hong

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Capítulos

1. How to get from autonomous vehicles to flying cars (00:00:00)

2. Reduced driver's manual override by 2025 (00:02:55)

3. Level 5 autonomy: Driving in any condition (00:03:45)

4. Automation do not mean drivers lose their jobs (00:05:25)

5. Flying cars? (00:07:00)

6. How does Xpeng pick its markets? (00:08:46)

7. Survival of the fittess: Chinese car companies (00:09:35)