XPeng Secures Eligibility to Offer L4 Robotaxi Services in Guangzhou
Key Facts
XPeng said on October 26, 2026, that it had secured eligibility to offer intelligent connected vehicle services in Guangzhou, allowing it to provide citywide L4 robotaxi services. The company described the step as a shift from technical validation to operational testing and validation of the business model. The announcement, according to the company, does not mean the service is beginning full commercial operations. The company said access in the initial phase would remain gradual and invitation-only, with the service expanding over time. It added that safety would take priority as it scales up.
XPeng plans to use live operations to test aspects of the day-to-day service, from responding to passenger requests to dispatching vehicles and picking up riders. The trials will also cover handling exceptional cases, the company said. Actual demand will help the team refine operating procedures, gain fleet-management experience and improve efficiency, it said. The company links the authorization to offer rides with testing how the service is coordinated in the field. This puts operations and service management at the center of the new phase announced by the company.
XPeng says Guangzhou is both a research and development and mass-production hub for the company and the first city where it aims to commercialize its robotaxi service. It previously announced in January 2026 that the project had received a road-testing permit in the city. In March, it established a dedicated business unit for the project, then announced on May 18 that the first mass-produced robotaxi had rolled off the production line in Guangzhou. The company said at the time that the vehicle had been developed using fully in-house technologies. These milestones show the project’s progression from road tests to vehicle preparation and the current ride offerings.
In August, XPeng said it had obtained eligibility for remote testing of intelligent connected vehicles in Guangzhou, allowing tests on designated roads without a safety operator in the driver’s seat. CnEVPost quoted He Xiaopeng as saying the company had completed more than 2,000 internal test rides in the city by that month. It also reported that the company was targeting driverless passenger services in 2027. On October 8, XPeng announced the name “XPeng Yoyo” for its robotaxi service and opened online registration in China using invitation codes. The new eligibility to offer rides follows those steps announced by the company during the year.
On the technology side, XPeng said its robotaxis use four of its own Turing AI chips, with computing power of 3,000 TOPS, alongside its VLA 2.0 model. In an earlier announcement, the company said the system relies on vision alone and does not use lidar or high-definition maps. It estimated the system’s response time at less than 80 milliseconds. It also said reusing the model and technology stack is intended to adapt the service to varied road environments without extensive customization for each application. These are specifications and objectives the company has cited in describing the technology used by its vehicles.
The business model outlined by Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng positions XPeng as a technology provider and ecosystem enabler rather than a direct operator of large fleets. He said revenue could come from vehicle sales, technology services and commission sharing. The company thus links service expansion to technology sales and partnerships, while avoiding direct operation of huge fleets under the model described by its CEO. XPeng said it is in advanced talks with European mobility platforms. It said operating experience in Guangzhou would support global expansion, a path that remains at the discussion stage, according to its announcement.