Autonomous Vehicle News
One of Tesla’s Chinese rivals, Xpeng Inc., saw its stock price surge 9% after it reported narrowing losses, strong gains in deliveries and a growing focus on self-driving software. The electric-car maker booked a net loss of 786.6 million yuan ($120.1 million) in the first quarter, compared with a net loss of 935.1 million yuan in the same period last year, according to the company’s latest earnings report released Thursday. Xpeng’s revenue skyrocketed 616.1% to 3 billion yuan from last year, nearly 95% of which came from vehicle sales, according to the report. In the first quarter of 2020, the Covid-19 epidemic was at its peak on the Chinese mainland, likely suppressing sales. Revenue was up a more modest 2.7% from the fourth quarter of 2020, which the Guangzhou-based company attributed to increased income from its autonomous driving software Xpilot 3.0, which brought in 80 million yuan in the first quarter.