BEIJING, April 25 (Reuters) - Chinese electric vehicle

(EV) maker XPeng ( XPEV ) on Thursday said its software and

artificial intelligence training upgrades will enter a "super

fast cycle" from May, and that it hopes use of its platform will

expand to other Asian countries and Europe.

He Xiaopeng, founder and CEO of the automaker backed by

Germany's Volkswagen, said software will be

refreshed with upgrades every two months, in comments made at a

press conference on the opening day of the Beijing auto show.

"This year, I believe XPeng ( XPEV ) will far surpass all of China's

autonomous driving technology rivals," he said.

While rival Chinese automakers have been cutting costs amid

a price war, XPeng ( XPEV ) has pledged to invest heavily in technology

innovation as buyers in the world's largest auto market

increasingly seek more high-tech features when choosing cars.

In February, XPeng ( XPEV ) said it plans to hire 4,000 people

this year and invest 3.5 billion yuan ($482 million) in

artificial intelligence for intelligent driving technology.

He also said he hoped a smart EV that Xpeng ( XPEV ) is developing

under new brand "Mona" will sell better than the SU7 from Xiaomi ( XIACF )

in the second half of this year, and that Xpeng ( XPEV ) plans

pre-sales for a flying car in the fourth quarter.

XPeng ( XPEV ), one of China's best-selling EV startups, counts

Volkswagen as a shareholder after the German automaker invested

around $700 million for a 4.99% stake.

Volkswagen has said it developed a new architecture for

intelligent and electric cars with Xpeng ( XPEV ) that will help the

German automaker offer more affordable models.

($1 = 7.2467 Chinese yuan)