• Xpeng's former head of smart driving, Li Liyun, has confirmed his departure after being replaced earlier this month by Liu Xianming, who possesses AI expertise.
• This marks the most significant change in Xpeng's autonomous driving division since Wu Xinzhou's departure to join Nvidia in August 2023.

Li Liyun, former head of Xpeng's (NYSE: XPEV) autonomous driving center, has confirmed his departure after being replaced earlier this month by Liu Xianming, who possesses AI expertise.

Li said in a WeChat status this afternoon that he spent 76 fruitful months at the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker since joining on June 17, 2019, according to a report by local media outlet LatePost today.

He reflected on Xpeng's smart driving system expanding from highways to urban roads, transitioning from initial reliance on high-definition maps to map-free operation, and shifting from multi-sensor dependence to pure vision.

Now, the dawn of AI large models is emerging, according to Li.

He thanked all colleagues on the team, saying the joy of winning battles makes everything worthwhile, as noted by LatePost.

Xpeng announced in an internal memo on October 9 that Li would no longer serve as head of its autonomous driving center, with Liu, head of the world base model, taking over the role.

Liu earned his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2016 and joined Xpeng in March 2024 as head of the AI team.

This marks the most significant change in Xpeng's autonomous driving team since August 2023, when vice president of autonomous driving Wu Xinzhou departed to join Nvidia. Li, then head of the planning and control department, took over as head of autonomous driving.