A light experience with XPILOT system of Xpeng Motors: L2.5 autonomous driving in specific scenarios to free your hands and feet

Leifeng.com: In July, Xiaopeng Motors officially released the G3 2020 model equipped with the XPILOT 2.5 autonomous driving assistance system, and promised to deliver it in September. As Xiaopeng's new cars are delivered one after another, Leifeng.com's New Intelligent Driving also experienced the G3 2020 model recently.

Compared with the 2019 model, Xpeng Motors insiders said that the G3 2020 model has been enhanced in terms of battery life and chassis, and has further enhanced its functions in autonomous driving and intelligent interaction. So how will the G3 2020 model, which has been enhanced in all aspects, perform when it is on the road?

In this event, Xin Zhijia focused on experiencing the L2.5-level XPILOT autonomous driving assistance system of Xiaopeng G3, and will talk about the feelings based on the road conditions.

The experience scenarios include highways, urban expressways and urban congested sections, with a total distance of 55 kilometers and taking 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Before experiencing the automatic driving assistance system, it is necessary to take a look at the automatic driving hardware configuration of the G3 2020: 12 ultrasonic sensors, 4 body cameras, 1 forward camera, and 3 millimeter wave sensors, which can identify roads, vehicles, pedestrians, obstacles, etc.

These are the perception basis for assisted driving. Through these sensors, Xiaopeng XPILOT's autonomous driving assistance system can realize ACC full-speed adaptive cruise control (i.e. automatic stop-and-go function), LCC lane centering assistance function and ALC automatic lane change assistance function. Among them, the ALC function is considered an important sign of L2.5 autonomous driving. This function currently only appears on NIO and Tesla mass-produced models that also have L2.5 autonomous driving functions.

First, let's take a look at the ACC full-speed adaptive cruise control function. After my first experience, it is completely worthy of the word "assisted driving".

The G3 2020 uses a radar sensor on the front bumper to detect vehicles in front. The driver can turn on the ACC function by turning the lever on the lower left side of the steering wheel. When the small circle with the ACC logo in the center left of the instrument panel turns blue, the vehicle will enter the adaptive cruise state. The number in the middle of the small blue circle is the cruising speed.

According to Leifeng.com, Xiaopeng's ACC function is not limited by road grade or lane lines, and its effective working range is 0-140km/h. This means that the ACC auxiliary function can be enabled on urban expressways, congested roads or highways to reduce driving fatigue caused by stepping on the brakes or accelerator and free your feet.

During the following process, if there is no vehicle in front, the G3 will cruise at the set target speed (30-150km/h); if there is a vehicle in front, the G3 can activate the ACC function at any speed to achieve adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go function following the vehicle in front, that is, automatically adjust the speed according to the traffic conditions and keep a distance from the vehicle in front.

In addition, the driver can also set the following distance by himself. The following distance can be increased or decreased by operating the lever. There are 5 levels of adjustment for the following distance of ACC, and the default is usually level 3.

If the driver wants to end the ACC function, he can take over the vehicle by stepping on the accelerator pedal or operating the lever. However, Xinzhijia also observed that the ACC function can only recognize vehicles that change from moving to stationary. If the front vehicle is stationary, manual braking intervention is required.

Similarly, the LCC lane centering assist function can be used on both urban roads and highways.

When the vehicle is about to deviate from the current lane and the driver does not turn on the turn signal, the LCC function will intervene to correct the vehicle's driving trajectory. During this process, the driver can clearly feel the steering wheel pulling action when lightly holding the steering wheel, but there is no need to intervene in the steering wheel.

However, it is worth noting that there are certain prerequisites for the LCC function to be activated. First, the vehicle must be driven in the speed range of 30-120km/h; second, the ACC function must be activated.

When the above two conditions are met, the driver can activate the LCC function by using the lever, and the small circle with the steering wheel logo on the right center of the instrument panel will turn blue.

As the highlight of the L2.5 level autonomous driving assistance system, the conditions for activating the ALC automatic lane change function will be more "strict".

The ALC automatic lane change function can only be successful when the G3 is in ACC mode, the LCC function is activated and the vehicle is currently on a highway (speed greater than 65km/h). If the GPS locator in the vehicle detects that the vehicle is not on a highway, the vehicle cannot start the automatic lane change function even if both the ACC and LCC functions are activated.

When conditions are met, turn on the turn signal and the direction of lane change will be prompted on the dashboard. During this process, the G3 system will detect the blind spot of the target lane. If it is confirmed to be safe, the vehicle will change lanes automatically, but only one lane change command can be issued; if there is a safety risk, the vehicle will remain in the original lane;

During the experience, Xin Zhijia also encountered several situations where lane changes had to be canceled because the vehicle coming from behind was in the blind spot. This shows Xiaopeng's caution in automatic lane changes.

After the lane change is completed, the driver needs to manually turn off the lane change turn signal. When the automatic driving assistance system is turned on, Xiaopeng can allow the driver to take both hands off the steering wheel for 30 seconds, after which the system will remind the driver to take over.

During the experience, the G3's performance in the intelligent system was also remarkable.

Among them is the G3's AI intelligent voice assistant "Xiao P". Through the wake-up word "Hello, Xiao P", Xin Zhijia can interact with Xiao P through voice to complete map navigation, make calls, play music, control cameras, control air conditioning, voice chat, open windows and other actions; through the voice recognition device installed on the rearview mirror, Xiao P's response speed and recognition accuracy have good performance.

The AI ​​panoramic roof camera is also one of the highlights of Xiaopeng Motors' product differentiation. As you can see, the roof of the Xiaopeng G3 is equipped with a high-definition roof camera. The roof camera can be raised through the large screen in the car or the mobile phone to achieve 360° horizontal video or photo recording, and to perform real-time photo taking, video recording, driving record and monitoring of the inside and outside of the car. However, it should be noted that the roof camera can only be turned on when the vehicle speed is less than 80km/h.

In addition, the G3's intelligent system can also provide driver fatigue and distraction warnings. When the infrared camera in the car detects the driver's fatigue or distraction during driving, it will remind the driver through the large screen and voice broadcast.

In order to ensure the safety of the vehicle, Xiaopeng's G3 is also equipped with a 360° panoramic visual parking assistance system, FCW forward collision warning, AEB automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, LDW lane departure warning, SLA intelligent speed limit assistance and other functions.

During the whole experience, the L2.5 autonomous driving assistance system of the Xpeng G3 2020 can temporarily free your hands and feet in certain scenarios. Its ALC automatic lane change function is expected to become the most competitive product function among products of the same price, and once again popularize L2.5 autonomous driving to a more affordable car product range.

Although the G3 2020 model caused dissatisfaction among some car owners due to the rapid upgrade iteration at the beginning of its launch, whether Xiaopeng Motors can stand the test of the market still depends on its own product strength. According to Leifeng.com's New Intelligent Driving, Xiaopeng Motors has added more than 55 functions and optimized and upgraded more than 1,638 functions. How to continue to perform vehicle OTA in the future and cover the assisted driving function in more scenarios is a problem that Xiaopeng Motors needs to solve.

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