Xpeng (XPEV) shares fall after head of autonomous driving resigns

Xpeng shares fell round 5% on Wednesday after the corporate introduced its head of autonomous driving will depart the corporate at what’s seen as a essential juncture for the Chinese language electrical car start-up.

Xinzhou Wu, vp of autonomous driving at Xpeng, tendered his resignation “for private and household causes,” Xpeng stated in an announcement.

Liyun Li, senior director of Xpeng’s autonomous driving staff, will takeover Wu’s position. Li has been main the undertaking staff behind Xpeng’s superior driver-assistance system identified a XNGP. Xpeng stated Li has been “ready for the transition for an extended interval.”

He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng, praised Wu’s contribution to getting Xpeng right into a “main place in autonomous driving expertise.”

Wu’s departure comes at a time when Xpeng is trying to recuperate misplaced floor to upstart rivals Nio and Li Auto in addition to attempting to tackle giants BYD and Tesla in China because the market will get more and more cut-throat.

Xpeng continues to get hit by losses however delivered 11,008 vehicles in July, up by 28% on the month. It was the sixth consecutive month of supply progress, highlighting indicators of restoration to Xpeng’s enterprise.

The Guangzhou-headquartered agency has tried to place itself as more advanced on autonomous driving and different applied sciences than its rivals. It’s main semi-autonomous driving product is XNGP which it has positioned as a rival to Tesla’s Autopilot.

Xpeng’s Xiaopeng sought to reassure buyers that the corporate’s expertise improvement will proceed.

“Trying ahead, we are going to stay absolutely dedicated to our clear roadmap for the full-stack in-house developed autonomous driving expertise and our strategic partnership with the Volkswagen Group,” Xiaopeng stated.

“I’ll proceed to personally lead our autonomous driving staff and strengthen our management in Sensible EV applied sciences,” the CEO added.