XPeng Motors Responds to Suspension of Remote Camera Monitoring Function

In response to new Chinese data security requirements, XPeng Motors suspended its app’s “remote surround view monitoring” function on Monday.

Recently, some XPeng car owners reported that the remote camera monitoring of their vehicles was suspected to have been turned off through upgrades. In response, XPeng Motors told Beike Finance on Monday that they had in fact suspended the function, and this adjustment did not affect use of the “Sentry Mode” function of the vehicle. That is to say, although users can’t view the surroundings of the vehicle through the mobile app, the changes don’t affect the alarm systems of the vehicle.

At present, only the XPeng P7 model provides the remote camera monitoring function, and car owners can access the cameras through the XPeng app to monitor abnormal situations around the car, such as for preventing theft. There are 13 cameras on the P7 model, but users can only access four as remote cameras, and none of the camera modules support 360-degree scanning.

In the first quarter of this year, the delivery volume of XPeng‘s P7 model was 19,400 vehicles, up 144% year-on-year. In addition, the flagship G9 model will be officially put on sale and enter mass production in the Q3, and will be delivered on a large scale in Q4. Next year, XPeng plans to launch a new car in both the enterprise and individual consumer markets.

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In fact, considering the privacy of pedestrians and other vehicles on public roads, it is not only XPeng that has disabled remote cameras. Earlier, BYD owners also reported that their remote monitoring function had been suspended.

BYD customer service has responded that according to the latest regulations, the face and license plate information in the collected exterior video and image data need to be anonymized before being accessed outside the car. At present, the clairvoyant function is being optimized based on regulations. The policy requirement is to restore the remote monitoring function after June 30, and whether it will be adjusted in the future has not been made clear yet.