Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng has lauded Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) version 14.2 after test drives in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, describing it as offering near-Level 4 performance. This assessment comes more than a year after his initial experience with an earlier FSD version. He highlighted the system's improvements and shared Xpeng's goal to match it by 2026.
Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng recently revisited Silicon Valley, where he conducted extended test drives of Tesla vehicles equipped with the latest FSD software. Over approximately five hours of driving across Silicon Valley and San Francisco, he tested a Tesla with FSD V14.2 and rode in a Tesla Robotaxi. He noted that both delivered consistent and reassuring performance, a marked improvement from his mid-2024 tests of FSD V12.3.6 and Waymo vehicles in California.
In those earlier tests, He observed that Waymo outperformed in dense urban areas like San Francisco, while Tesla excelled on highways and in Silicon Valley. Now, He described FSD V14.2 as evolving from a smooth Level 2 advanced driver assistance system into a “near-Level 4” experience in capabilities. While acknowledging remaining imperfections, he stated that the current iteration significantly surpasses last year's version.
He reaffirmed Tesla's approach of using the same autonomous software and hardware architecture for private vehicles and robotaxis as the correct path, enabling a direct move toward Level 4 functionality without intermediate stages.
The visit also benchmarked Xpeng's autonomy efforts. He announced that Xpeng aims to enhance its VLA autonomous driving system to match FSD V14.2's performance within China by August 30, 2026. The company plans to release VLA 2.0 smart driving software next quarter, though He cautioned it will not yet match FSD V14.2.
Adding motivation, He challenged Xpeng's autonomous driving team: if the target is met, he will approve a Chinese-style cafeteria for the Silicon Valley team; if not, unit head Liu Xianming has pledged to run naked across the Golden Gate Bridge.
