XPeng Group chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng told the 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference that autonomous driving's "second half" will bring three major changes: software shifting from conventional software to AI models and data, hardware moving from partial components to full-stack coupling across chips, chassis, cockpit, self-driving and the whole vehicle, and regulation and deployment shifting as countries worldwide push L2, L3 and L4 rules and explore where L4 and L5 can be deployed. He also named three metrics absent from the first half — safety collision mileage, users' all-scenario coverage and the share of users willing to pay — saying together they would form numerical targets guiding better experience, safety and returns. In a separate report by Yicai, he said autonomous driving should skip L3, arguing it only transfers safety responsibility to the system while user experience is not optimized and, crucially, safety does not improve; he expects opportunity in L2, L4 and a redefined L5, calling L3 essentially an enhanced form of L2.