August 3, 2023: On Wednesday, Head of Autonomous Driving at Xpeng decided to leave, triggering the Share Prices to decrease at what is seen as a critical juncture for the Chinese electric vehicle start-up.

Xinzhou Wu, vice president of driving at Xpeng, tendered his resignation “for personal and family reasons,” Xpeng said.

Liyun Li, senior director of Xpeng’s independent driving team, will take over Wu’s role. Li has been leading the project team behind Xpeng’s advanced driver-assistance system, XNGP. Xpeng said Li has been “prepared for the transition for a long period.”

He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng, praised Wu’s contribution to getting Xpeng into a “leading position in autonomous driving technology.”

Wu’s departure comes when Xpeng is examining to recover lost ground to upstart rivals Nio and Li Auto and try to take on giants BYD and Tesla in China as the market gets increasingly cut-throat.

Xpeng continues to get hit by losses but delivered 11,008 vehicles in July, up 28%. It was the sixth consecutive month of delivery growth, highlighting signs of recovery in Xpeng’s business.

The Guangzhou-headquartered firm has tried to position itself as more advanced in autonomous driving and other technologies than its competitors. Its main semi-autonomous driving product is XNGP which it has set as a rival to Tesla’s Autopilot.

Xpeng’s Xiaopeng reassured investors that the company’s technology development will continue.

“Looking forward, we will remain committed to our clear roadmap for the full-stack in-house developed autonomous driving technology and our strategic partnership with the Volkswagen Group,” Xiaopeng said.

“I will continue personally leading our autonomous driving team and strengthening our leadership in Smart EV technologies,” the CEO added.