“What is the experience of being both a car and a friend”

Introduction: The era of “software-defined cars” has come, where “software” not only refers to software that assists driving, but also includes intelligent cockpits and car software. Therefore, we launched the intelligent car program column “Micro-experience of Car Machines”. Each issue, we will choose a car machine product with unique features for in-depth experience.

With cool and eye-catching super bright green color, and handsome frameless scissor doors, no matter where you go, it is the most beautiful. This time, we are experiencing the car machine system of the XPeng P7 Peng Wing Edition. This car is already equipped with the latest Xmart OS 2.6.0 version, which has further improved the core functions such as “automatic parking”, “NGP automatic navigation assisted driving”, and “whole-scenario voice interaction” of the XPeng P7, which already leads the industry. Let’s take a look together!

Basic Configuration: Leading in the Industry

Like most intelligent cars, the 2021 XPeng P7 has a dual-screen interaction design, and the co-pilot does not have an entertainment screen.

Instrument Screen

The instrument screen is 10.25 inches in size, has a resolution of 1920×720, and uses Freescale MX6 processor. It displays all necessary vehicle information and does not display any unnecessary information, so as not to distract the driver. The middle of the screen displays the vehicle status, and the left is for music, and the right is for navigation maps. In addition, the top of the screen also displays vehicle safety prompt information, while the bottom displays the current driving mode, battery level, temperature, and time.

In addition, the XPeng P7 is equipped with a driver facial recognition system, which provides seat and exterior mirror memory functions for the driver. However, this car is not equipped with a HUD head-up display function, and the driver needs to look down at the instrument screen to check the speed.

Central Control ScreenThe XiaoPeng P7 is equipped with a 14.96 inch central control screen with a screen resolution of 2400×1200 and a pixel density of 179 PPI. The processor is the mainstream Qualcomm Snapdragon 820A, paired with 8+128GB of storage capacity. There are no physical buttons below the central control screen, which means that the control of the entire vehicle can be completed on this screen.

In addition, there are a total of 4 USB interfaces (2 each at the front and rear) and a wireless charging panel in the whole vehicle.

Human-Vehicle Interaction Experience: Intelligent, Responsive, Simple and Easy to Use

The layout of the XiaoPeng P7’s central control screen’s main interface is a fixed functional bar on the left + operation interface. The UI design is relatively simple and round, and the system operation is simple and easy to understand, allowing users to quickly get started.

The main sliding cards on the interface are for navigation, music, Bluetooth phone, and notification center. The navigation map occupies two-thirds of the entire screen, allowing drivers to see location information more intuitively and clearly.

At the top of the screen, like a smartphone, a function menu can be pulled down which can be used for common functions such as unlocking the trunk, folding the rearview mirrors, adjusting the temperature, screen brightness, and music. This eliminates the trouble of finding them one by one from the menu bar, making it very convenient.

The left-side functional bar mainly provides access to vehicle control functions, automatic parking system, air conditioning adjustment, music, Bluetooth phone, and entertainment functions. Among them, the vehicle control function entrance is the more important functional panel of the entire vehicle, which mainly controls driving modes, car lights, auxiliary driving systems, and vehicle settings.

The full-scenario voice system of XPeng P7 has always been at the forefront of the industry, supporting continuous dialogue, visible speech, semantic interruption, and dual-tone zone locking, etc. The speech recognition accuracy is also very high. By saying “Hello XPeng”, you can wake up the voice assistant and have a continuous conversation.

After waking up XPeng, we give a navigation instruction to go to destination 1 first and then to destination 2. XPeng can accurately recognize and respond quickly, immediately generating the best route. When the navigation confirmation begins, the route broadcast will be played from the sound system on the driver’s seat headrest.

With “visible speech”, anything we can see can be adjusted or controlled through voice commands. For example, when giving XPeng vague or colloquial instructions such as “I want to browse Weibo”, “I want to watch B station”, “I want to sing”, etc., it can still recognize and respond quickly. In addition, we can also use voice to control the front and back height of the seat, including letting XPeng open the cool Pengyi doors on both sides.

Entertainment of the In-car System: Abundant and Powerful

It is necessary to say that the entertainment aspect of XPeng P7’s in-car system is not only abundant but also very powerful. Currently, most mainstream applications on smartphones, such as Weibo, UC Browser, Changba, NetEase Cloud Music, and Ele.me, etc., can be downloaded for free from XPeng’s app store.

In terms of games, you can play multiple classic and popular games on XPeng P7, such as Asphalt 9: Legends, Honkai Impact 3, Q-style Knight, Dream Garden, etc. Among them, Asphalt 9: Legends even supports steering wheel operation, greatly enhancing the immersive experience of the racing game.Not only does XPeng shine in speech recognition, entertainment and intelligence, its music experience is also exceptional. XPeng P7, which dares to call itself a “mobile music hall”, is equipped with 18 authentic imported Dynaudio speakers professionally designed and arranged by Dynaudio, delivering extraordinary results. Moreover, P7’s unique “adjustable tweeter” can create a strong sense of ritual.

XPeng P7 has the broadest global access to ecology. At present, it has access to more than 50 third-party applications and Alipay mini-programs respectively, and can also find exclusive audio and video content on the entire network.

Summary

XPeng P7’s in-vehicle system is functional, powerful, and easy to operate. It is a genuine, youthful and joyful car loaded with gaming, karaoke and other entertainment software. P7’s in-vehicle system is smooth and fast to use, with a beautiful and impressive UI design, and it uses an Android system like most new energy vehicles, but XPeng has fully tapped into its potential.

Overall, the in-vehicle experience of XPeng P7 is excellent. Through continuous OTA upgrades, the in-vehicle design and functionality have been greatly improved. The advanced speech recognition function provides a more premium and safer driving experience. However, not everything is perfect. It is regrettable that the vehicle is not equipped with HUD head-up display, and although the in-vehicle screen is highly playable, its touch response is slightly poor. Nonetheless, the powerful speech recognition compensates for the frequency of touching the screen.

Although XPeng is already a leader in intelligence, it is still striving to develop more features that meet our needs. Rather than saying P7 brings us an intelligent driving experience, it brings us a new attitude towards life. We believe that in the near future, XPeng will offer us not just a car, but a true “peng friend”.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.