By ZHOU Shuqi

WU Xinzhou, head of the autonomous driving center at Xpeng Motors, is to leave the company and join the world’s leading chip manufactuer Nvidia as global vice president, business media 36Kr reported Wednesday.

HE Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng confirmed Wu's departure and said LI Liyun who previously was in charge of the companies ADAS research team, will take Wu's post. He also said despite leaving the company, Wu will continue collaboration with Xpeng on chip R&D. 

Wu is a key figure at Xpeng. After joining the company in 2019, he led the team that developed intelligent-driving algorithms, driving Xpeng to become a world leader in autonomous driving technology. Before joining Xpeng, Wu worked for Qualcomm for ten years.

A week ago, Volkswagen announced a plan to buy 5-percent stake in Xpeng, driven by interest in autonomous-driving tech.

The autonomous driving unit of Xpeng has been a victim of its own success since January, with dozens of employees leaving for other autonomous driving companies. 

Patrick Liu, lead of Xpeng’s AI team, has also left the company. Meanwhile, Xpeng’s North American R&D team is also downsizing, shifting its strategic focus towards the domestic market. 

Possibly influenced by Wu’s departure, Xpeng's Hong Kong stock fell as much as 17.35 percent to HK$68.35.