Former AutoNavi’s executive reportedly joins XPeng as VP of Internet Center

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chen Yonghai, former Vice President of Products with Alibaba-backed digital map provider AutoNavi, has joined XPeng to serve as Vice President of Internet Center, according to a local media outlet.

Chen Yonghai; photo credit: AutoNavi

In his new capacity, Mr. Chen will directly report to He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng. Ji Yu, the former director of the startup’s Internet Center, will be granted other responsibilities, said the media channel.

XPeng has not commented on the personnel change yet.

It is worth mentioning that both Chen Yonghai and Ji Yu had assumed senior executive duties in the mobile Internet company UCWeb, which was founded by members including He Xiaopeng and then acquired by Alibaba Group.

As publicly disclosed, Chen Yonghai assumed the role of senior product director with UCWeb from 2010 to 2012, while Ji Yu served as the director of innovation product department of the same company between 2010 and 2015. Chen Yonghai joined AutoNavi after UCWeb was acquired by Alibaba Group in 2014.

XPeng and AutoNavi have carried out cooperation on advanced driver assistance function. In Jan. 2021, the company unveiled the beta version of its NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot) highway assisted driving system, saying the system utilized decimeter-level AutoNavi high-definition mapping.