Xpeng has a Guangzhou robotaxi demonstration permit; Volkswagen Group China has an L3 test licence in Hefei

Xpeng says Guangzhou has approved it for citywide Level 4 robotaxi demonstration operations. The South China Morning Post describes that licence as one that allows the robotaxis to carry paying passengers. Xpeng's own notices do not use that phrase. They say the first phase still opens through invitation codes. Separately, Volkswagen Group China says it has received a Level 3 autonomous-driving road-test licence in Hefei and has started testing.

The permissions are different. Xpeng's is a robotaxi demonstration qualification in Guangzhou. Volkswagen Group China's notice is a Level 3 road-test licence in Hefei, with a stated aim of Level 3 technical readiness in 2027. The Post's 27 October story reports them together. This desk keeps each wording separate.

What Xpeng says it received

XPeng's English press release, dated 26 October 2026, says the company has been approved for Guangzhou's intelligent connected vehicle demonstration application operation qualification. It says that approval enables Level 4 robotaxi demonstration operation across the entire city. XPeng calls the step a move from technology validation to operations and commercial-model validation. The Chinese notice on xiaopeng.com, also dated 26 October, uses the same account: the group may conduct Level 4 robotaxi demonstration operations across Guangzhou, and the service has the qualification for public demonstration operations.

Both notices say that, in the initial phase, the robotaxi service will keep opening access gradually through invitation codes, while putting safety first. The Chinese notice names the service 小鹏悠游. The English notice uses the brand name XPENG YOYO. The English text says the approval lets the team validate order response, vehicle dispatch, passenger pickup, and exception handling in Guangzhou.

The Post, in a story by Themis Qi published at 8:00am on 27 October and updated at 8:13am, says China granted new autonomous-driving permission to Xpeng and to a mainland joint venture of Volkswagen. It says Xpeng would be allowed to conduct "demonstration operations" of its Yoyo driverless taxis in Guangzhou, which it calls the capital of Guangdong, under a licence granted recently, and that the company said this on social media on Monday. The next sentence is the Post's description of the licence, not a quotation it attributes to a named Xpeng executive: "The licence, which allows the robotaxis to carry paying passengers, is regarded as a final major test for fleet operators before winning regulatory approval for commercial operations."

The Post also says the permission would allow Xpeng to gather "real-world operational validation" and help refine a "replicable service system," and that Xpeng said the experience would lead to later solutions for global partners. It says Xpeng said the Yoyo robotaxi has Level 4 capability.

CnEVPost, in a 26 October story by Phate Zhang, says Candice Yuan, head of Xpeng's robotaxi business, wrote on Weibo that the company had obtained Guangzhou's qualification for intelligent connected vehicle demonstration operations and could conduct Level 4 robotaxi trials citywide. CnEVPost says the approval does not mean the service is immediately open to everyone. It quotes Yuan as saying the team would keep opening access through invitation codes at first. CnEVPost's headline calls the approval a trial approval. Xpeng's own pages call it a demonstration-operation qualification.

What the company says it will not do itself

XPeng's English release says chairman and chief executive He Xiaopeng has previously said the robotaxi business will be a technology provider and ecosystem enabler, and will not itself operate large-scale fleets. It says revenue would come from hardware sales, technology services, and commission sharing. The Chinese notice says He said during the Paris motor show that the company is in talks with several leading European mobility platforms. The Post reports the same Paris comment.

CnEVPost says earlier Guangzhou steps, which it attributes to the company, were a road-test permit in January, a robotaxi division in March, a first production car in May, and a first internal test ride in July. It says He said on a 24 August earnings call that the cars had completed more than 2,000 internal test rides, with an aim of passenger service without safety drivers in 2027.

The English release says the robotaxi uses four in-house Turing AI chips, rated at 3,000 TOPS, and a VLA 2.0 model. CnEVPost says it is based on the GX SUV and is vision-only, without lidar or high-definition maps, and that the Yoyo name was unveiled on 8 October.

Volkswagen's Hefei licence

Volkswagen Group China's notice, datelined Hefei on 26 October 2026, says the group has received a Level 3 road-test licence there, under what it calls the country's strictest current Level 3 framework. It says real-road testing and data collection have started, and that the licence is a step toward Level 3 technical readiness in 2027.

The notice quotes Ralf Brandstätter, chairman and chief executive of Volkswagen Group China. In the Chinese text he says the group puts safety and reliability first and will not push technological progress in autonomous driving at the expense of safety, and that the Level 3 test qualification allows testing in real traffic in Hefei and large-scale data collection. The same notice says the group's first China technology day will be held in Hefei on 28 October 2026.

The Post identifies the Volkswagen permission holder as Volkswagen (Anhui) Automotive Company, a joint venture between Volkswagen and JAC Automobile Group, and says that company won a Level 3 road-test licence in Hefei and had already begun real-world road testing and data collection. Volkswagen Group China's own notice, which this desk opened, names the group and Hefei. It does not name JAC or Volkswagen Anhui. This story does not merge those two descriptions into one corporate name.

The Post says Xpeng's Guangzhou robotaxis will join previous licensees including Pony.ai, WeRide, Baidu, and Guangzhou Automobile Group. A separate Cars desk story covers the ID. UNYX 09, a different Volkswagen Anhui announcement.

The company pages are the companies' statements. The Post is an independent report, and it is the source for the paying-passenger description that Xpeng's notices do not spell out.