China Auto Daily丨XPENG Targets L4 Autonomous Driving Leap in 2026

XPeng's He Xiaopeng Forecasts Direct Leap from L2 to L4 Autonomous Driving by 2026

On December 30, He Xiaopeng, CEO of XPeng Motors, stated that the next generation of true full self-driving will arrive in 2026, marking a direct leap from Level 2 (L2) to Level 4 (L4) automation. He specified that XPeng's Ultra variant models will achieve this next-generation autonomous driving capability, utilizing the same underlying model to enable Robotaxi functionality. According to He, the ceiling for end-to-end small models is L2, and urban Navigate on Autopilot (NOA) will soon become a standard, low-end feature for smart cars — similar to automatic parking today—while high-end configurations will feature full self-driving. He emphasized that over the next three years, only vehicles equipped with full self-driving capabilities will represent the next generation of intelligent automobiles.

China Enters Global Manufacturing Power Rankings, Maintains Lead in New Energy Vehicles

The "2025 China Manufacturing Power Development Index Report" indicates that in 2024, China's manufacturing power development index reached the same tier as Germany and Japan, with all sub-indices showing positive growth. This achievement marks China's entry into the global manufacturing power second echelon, successfully realizing the strategic objective of the "first step" in becoming a manufacturing powerhouse. China is now the fourth country to join the ranks of global manufacturing powers, following the United States, Germany, and Japan. The report forecasts that by 2030, seven Chinese industries, including information and communication equipment, new energy, and intelligent connected vehicles, will continue to maintain world-leading standards. The next decade is deemed a critical period for the "second step" in building a manufacturing powerhouse, with the goal for China to advance into the forefront of the world's manufacturing powers by 2035.

Sigmastar Technology's First Batch of L3+ Automotive-Grade LiDAR Chips to Enter Mass Production in H1 2026

Sigmastar announced on December 30 that its automotive-grade LiDAR SPAD chips, the SS905HP (high line count) and SS901 (low line count), cover long-range applications with resolutions spanning from over 1,000 lines to 192 lines, making them suitable for Level 3 (L3) and higher autonomous driving scenarios. The company confirmed that the chips have progressed to the customer-implementation stage, with the first batch of products scheduled for mass production in the first half of 2026.

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