XPENG has posted a 14-minute film of its NGP assisted-driving system with second-generation VLA driving through central Amsterdam. The film was published on 28 September 2026. According to XPENG, the Chinese news agency Xinhua tested XPENG’s and Tesla’s systems on the same streets, and XPENG says both performed smoothly.
The cars and the route
CleanTechnica’s Larry Evans also describes rides in an L03 prototype with VLA 2.0 and a Tesla Model 3 running FSD (Supervised) on the same roads. His rides took place on 11 September 2026. The route ran through narrow canal-side streets, across tram tracks and past roadworks, cyclists and pedestrians. An employee from XPENG’s Munich office drove both cars during Evans’ rides.
CleanTechnica reports three manual corrections in the XPENG car: a lane change around roadworks, passing a car partly blocking the road, and closing a gap in traffic. The assistance system remained engaged throughout the drive. German YouTuber André Scheidler, whom Xinhua had invited, writes that development is moving very fast and that European carmakers should watch it closely.
Evans rode in the cars one after the other, with lighter traffic during the Tesla ride. His observations therefore do not provide a comparable measure of the systems’ error rates under identical conditions.
What it means in Europe
NGP is not yet available to customers in Europe. XPENG is aiming for European approval of VLA 2.0 in the first half of 2027, and the L03 Ultra is so far the only European model with VLA 2.0 on its equipment list. The VLA article covers the model and the approval process. At the Paris Motor Show from 12 to 18 October, XPENG will offer NGP demonstrations as passenger rides in an L03 through the show’s Autonomous Lab.
Image: XPENG
Sources
XPENG Global: Xinhua tested XPENG and Tesla in Amsterdam · 28 September 2026
XPENG on YouTube: the Amsterdam film (14 min) · 28 September 2026
CleanTechnica: VLA 2.0 vs FSD in Amsterdam, part 1 · 28 September 2026
André Scheidler on X: invited by Xinhua · 28 September 2026
XPENG: European VLA 2.0 approval targeted for the first half of 2027 · 25 August 2026
CleanTechnica: the Tesla ride and traffic differences, part 2 · 29 September 2026