New XPENG Robotaxi: KITT Or My Mother The Car … Or Both! Support CleanTechnica's work through a Substack subscription or on Stripe. David Hasselhoff fans, prick up your ears! The Chinese EV startup Xpeng Motors is one step closer to marketing a robotaxi that fulfills the vision of Hasselhoff’s souped up, crime fighting Pontiac Trans Am KITT in the hit TV series Knight Rider, combined with all the parental instincts of the self-driving, horn-tooting 1921 Ford Model T that stole the show in the not-so-hit series My Mother The Car. No, really! Read on…. The XPENG Difference With other stakeholders in the autonomous vehicle business breathing down its neck, the pressure is on XPENG to produce a robotaxi that outdoes all others. I test drove a sporty XPENG P7 for a hot minute or two in August of 2020 (yes, that was months before a vaccine was available — how could I resist?) and my question is why would anyone pass up a chance to drive an Xpeng for themselves? That P7 was a sweet ride! Nevertheless, for anyone who needs a taxi, EVs provide an edge over gasmobiles, with a smooth, quiet, zero emission ride. As one of my robotaxi-taking friends sees it, roboticized EVs also offer an extra layer of peace and quiet, being driverless. In May of this year, XPENG announced the start of mass production for its new robootaxi, billing it as “China’s first production-ready, pre-assembled Robotaxi model developed entirely with in-house technologies and engineered to L4 autonomous driving standards.” CleanTechnica editor Zachary Shahan took note of the difference between XPENG and other AV stakeholders in China: “While there are other robotaxis roaming the roads of China from tech giant Baidu and dedicated robotaxi firms, this is a different thing — it’s a passenger car company