Xpeng Shares Plunge as Autonomous Driving Mastermind Departs

American citizen Wu Xinzhou steps down for ‘personal and family reasons’ as some cite U.S. restrictions and others see him headed to Nvidia

Wu Xinzhou joined Xpeng in December 2018 to lead the company’s autonomous driving development

Shares of China’s electric car startup Xpeng Inc. slumped more than 6% in New York on news that its head of autonomous driving is leaving.

Wu Xinzhou, vice president of autonomous driving at Xpeng, is resigning “for personal and family reasons,” the company said Wednesday in a statement. Li Liyun, senior director of Xpeng’s autonomous driving team, will assume Wu’s role. Li has been leading the development of Xpeng’s advanced driver-assistance system known as XNGP.