Xpeng shares fell round 5% on Wednesday after the corporate introduced its head of autonomous driving will depart the corporate at what’s seen as a crucial juncture for the Chinese language electrical automobile start-up.

Xinzhou Wu, vice chairman of autonomous driving at Xpeng, tendered his resignation “for private and household causes,” Xpeng stated in an announcement.

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Liyun Li, senior director of Xpeng’s autonomous driving crew, will takeover Wu’s function. Li has been main the challenge crew behind Xpeng’s superior driver-assistance system recognized a XNGP. Xpeng stated Li has been “ready for the transition for a protracted interval.”

He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng, praised Wu’s contribution to getting Xpeng right into a “main place in autonomous driving expertise.”

Wu’s departure comes at a time when Xpeng is seeking to recuperate misplaced floor to upstart rivals Nio and Li Auto in addition to making an attempt to tackle giants BYD and Tesla in China because the market will get more and more cut-throat.

Xpeng continues to get hit by losses however delivered 11,008 automobiles in July, up by 28% on the month. It was the sixth consecutive month of supply development, highlighting indicators of restoration to Xpeng’s enterprise.

The Guangzhou-headquartered agency has tried to place itself as extra superior on autonomous driving and different applied sciences than its rivals. It is fundamental semi-autonomous driving product is XNGP which it has positioned as a rival to Tesla’s Autopilot.

Xpeng’s Xiaopeng sought to reassure traders that the corporate’s expertise improvement will proceed.

“Wanting ahead, we are going to stay totally dedicated to our clear roadmap for the full-stack in-house developed autonomous driving expertise and our strategic partnership with the Volkswagen Group,” Xiaopeng stated.

“I’ll proceed to personally lead our autonomous driving crew and strengthen our management in Good EV applied sciences,” the CEO added.