XPeng G7 goes on sale with in-house AI brains and a competitive price tag

In what can only be described as an attempt to control its own technological destiny, Chinese automaker XPeng has unveiled its latest electric SUV, the G7. The new model enters the world's most competitive EV market not just with an attractive price, but with a powerful new piece of hardware developed entirely in-house: the Turing AI chip.

The biggest story surrounding the XPeng G7 is what hides deep within the new SUV. The company is making a clear statement by using its own custom-designed self-driving chips. While the standard "Max" version of the G7 will still use two of the familiar Nvidia Orin-X chips, the top-tier "Ultra" variant is flexing some serious technological muscle.

It comes equipped with three of XPeng's new Turing AI chips. The company claims this setup provides an effective computing power of over 2,200 TOPS (Trillion Operations Per Second). In simpler terms, that's an enormous amount of processing power dedicated to making the car's smart features think faster and more effectively. For comparison, the already discontinued Nvidia DRIVE Orin SoC delivered 254 TOPS, and the new Thor SoC brings that number up to 1,000 TOPS.

XPeng is so confident in this hardware that it has labeled the G7 the "world's first AI vehicle to achieve L3 computing power." This powerful trio of chips will manage both the advanced driver-assistance systems and the in-cabin infotainment. The company also states the G7 is the first vehicle to feature its VLM (Vision-Language Models) system. This advanced AI is designed to help the vehicle perceive and understand its environment, much like a human does.

While the high-tech brain is the main event, the G7 is a compelling package on its own. Positioned as a mid-size electric SUV, its dimensions are 192.6 inches in length, 75.8 inches in width, and 65.2 inches in height, with a wheelbase of 113.8 inches. XPeng has launched pre-sales for the G7 with a starting price of RMB 235,800, which translates to approximately $32,800, placing it between the brand's more affordable G6 SUV and its flagship G9 SUV.

All versions of the G7 are built on an 800-volt high-voltage platform that allows for significantly faster charging times. Both the Max and Ultra variants come standard with a battery pack supporting 5C fast charging and offer an impressive CLTC-rated range of 436 miles.

Another interesting piece of technology is the Head-Up Display (HUD), which was co-developed with tech giant Huawei. This system projects an 87-inch virtual display onto the windshield, keeping vital information like speed, navigation, and driver-assistance alerts directly in the driver's line of sight.

The launch of the G7 is an important part of XPeng's broader strategy for growth. The company is enjoying considerable momentum, having delivered over 30,000 vehicles for seven consecutive months, with May deliveries hitting 33,525 units. For the first five months of the year, XPeng has delivered 162,578 electric cars - that's a 293% increase compared to the same period last year.

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