(Yicai) Aug. 3 -- Shares in Xpeng Motors recovered today, after a sharp drop yesterday when the Chinese electric startup said that the leader of its XNGP project, which is a new-generation intelligent driver assistance system, will become vice president of its autonomous driving department as the current VP moves on.

Xpeng’s Hong Kong stock [HKG:9868] was trading up 4.7 percent at HKD73.95 (USD9.50) as of 1.50 p.m. China time. Yesterday it plunged 15 percent in Hong Kong, while its New York-traded shares [NYSE:XPEV] sank 6.1 percent to close at USD18.83.

Li Liyun will replace Wu Xinzhou who is departing the firm for personal and family reasons, the Guangzhou-based new energy vehicle maker said yesterday.

Li has spearheaded the development of the company’s second-generation intelligent driver assistance system XNGP, which was first installed on its latest sports utility vehicle Xpeng G6 that was launched in June.

Although Xpeng did not state where Wu would go, tech website Pandaily reported yesterday that he is joining US chip giant Nvidia as global vice president.

Wu expressed his desire last year to return to work in the US and he is likely to become an executive at a world-renowned company and to continue to partner with Xpeng in the chip sector, founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer He Xiaopeng said yesterday on microblogging site Weibo. XPeng has been making preparations for this change in leadership for almost a year now, he added.

Wu joined Xpeng in 2019 and spearheaded the development of its intelligent driving system. Before that, he worked at US chipmaker Qualcomm for over a decade, leading several research and development projects including autonomous driving and vehicle communication networks.

Last month, Xpeng received a USD700 million investment from German auto giant Volkswagen for a 5 percent stake. The two parties will also work together to develop new models with smart connectivity. Xpeng’s shipments soared 28 percent last month from June to 11,008 units.

Editor: Kim Taylor