He Xiaopeng: Direct Path from L2 to L4 Is Safest Route to Autonomous Driving

On April 16, He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng Inc., responded to recent debates regarding autonomous driving technology development paths. Previously, Jin Yuzhi, Senior Vice President of Huawei and CEO of Huawei’s autonomous driving subsidiary "Yinwang," publicly stated that Level 3 (L3) conditional automation is an indispensable step toward the evolution to Levels 4 and 5 (L4/L5) and cannot be skipped. In contrast, companies including XPeng, Tesla, Baidu, as well as some academics, advocate bypassing L3 and directly developing L4 autonomous driving systems. He Xiaopeng noted that L3 and L4 were initially defined purely as technical classifications and did not adequately account for practical commercialization requirements. He argued that iterating directly from Level 2 (L2) to L4 represents the safest development path at present. During this transition, he emphasized the importance of continuously accumulating real-world data, prioritizing safety, and simultaneously advancing supportive policies and regulations. He stressed that advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) must not only raise the baseline performance threshold but also push the upper limits of capability. The core of L4 lies in achieving fully driverless operation while ensuring safety; if a system can guarantee safety but still requires human intervention, it remains within the L2 category. According to the national standard "Classification of Vehicle Driving Automation" jointly issued by China's State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration of China, autonomous driving is categorized into six levels, from L0 to L5. In December 2023, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology granted the country’s first batch of L3 conditional automated driving vehicle access permits. Two models—the Deepal SL03 and the Arcfox Alpha S—targeting urban congestion and highway scenarios respectively, will commence on-road pilot programs in designated areas of Beijing and Chongqing, marking a new phase of commercial application for L3 autonomous driving in China.