As is well known, the ambitions of Tesla’s competitor BYD are great. The Chinese electric car manufacturer not only wants to catch up with the Musk Group in terms of technology, but also overtake it in the long term. A recently announced billion-dollar investment in smart car technology can be seen as a step in this direction.
• BYD plans to invest $14 billion in smart car technology
• Focus: Autonomous driving and driver assistance systems
• First autopilot programs already integrated into high-class BYD cars
BYD, the Chinese electric car manufacturer based in Shenzhen founded in 2003, is on everyone’s lips worldwide. In the fourth quarter of last year, BYD overtook long-time rival Tesla for the first time in terms of car deliveries. While BYD delivered a total of 525,409 electric cars between October and December 2023, this important figure for the Musk Group only amounted to 484,507 cars.
In 2024, BYD is preparing to replace Tesla as the global electric car market leader for the year. To achieve this, the Chinese car company is relying on an aggressive expansion strategy. Among other things, the construction of the first European BYD production facility in Hungary was recently announced, and the first BYD car dealerships also recently opened in Germany. Now another milestone has been announced.
BYD announces $14 million for ASAD
The news that BYD wants to invest a total of 14 billion US dollars in smart car technology caused a stir Electric carindustry a lot of attention. A focus will be placed on innovations relating to software for autonomous driving and driver assistance systems. BYD announced this billion-dollar investment program on the occasion of “Dream Day 2024” at its global headquarters in Shenzhen.
At the event, China’s leading automaker also revealed details about its future integrated vehicle intelligence strategy. In this context, BYD presented its so-called “XUANJI” architecture for intelligent new energy vehicles (NEV) – i.e. vehicles with alternative drive technologies. According to Automotive News, the aim of this strategy is to improve the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which are becoming an important selling point for BYD in both the Chinese and global markets.
The founder and CEO of BYD, Wang Chuanfu, is convinced of the great importance of ADAS: “Integrated vehicle intelligence will set the future direction of vehicle intelligence and thus accelerate the transformation of the automotive industry,” quotes “Teslarati” from Chuanfu’s speech, which he gave at the ” “Dream Day” held in Shenzhen.
BYD relies on AI
BYD’s upcoming intelligent new energy vehicles will be powered by XUANJI architecture, which serves as a central intelligence and neural network. BYD also introduced the XUANJI AI Large Model, a multimodal artificial intelligence (AI) for vehicles. BYD will also introduce the Navigate on Autopilot program, an advanced driver assistance system that allows the driver to disengage from the steering wheel and pedals in certain situations. However, for safety reasons, BYD’s “Navigate on Autopilot” requires the car’s driver to touch the steering wheel at least once every 15 seconds.
The ADAS programs are to be integrated into the BYD cars step by step. It is already included in the high-priced BYD model Denza N7 EV. The “Navigate on Autopilot” will soon also be offered in BYD’s Smart New Energy Vehicles with a price of over 300,000 Chinese Yuan (equivalent to just under 39,000 euros). In addition, the ADAS software can be purchased as an extra for all BYD smart vehicles that cost at least 200,000 Chinese yuan (around 26,000 euros).
BYD is upgrading – but analysts are still skeptical
BYD is getting serious about its smart car offensive. The Chinese electric car manufacturer sees AI software as a new megatrend within the automotive industry and is upgrading accordingly. BYD is thereby increasing the pressure on its closest competitor, Tesla, whose full self-driving (FSD) technology has been regularly causing problems for years.
BYD therefore appears to be well prepared for the near future and could further stimulate its growth. Profits have recently increased significantly; in the third quarter of last year, BYD celebrated a new record profit of 10.41 billion Chinese yuan (around 1.35 billion euros).
Nevertheless, analysts have recently exercised restraint: According to some experts, the growth profile of Tesla’s Chinese competitor is shaky. For example, the Morgan Stanley experts are expecting a lot of headwind for BYD in 2024: “In view of the demanding industry competition heading into 2024, BYD must refresh its model range or bring more competitive models onto the market,” the analysts complained, according to “Bloomberg”.
Some experts also doubt the success of BYD’s smart cars. UOB analyst Kay Hian, among others, sees strong competition for BYD in the alliance for intelligent connected vehicles that is being created under the leadership of Huawei. It is therefore by no means clear whether the Chinese electric car industry leader will be able to assert itself in the long term in the hotly contested smart car segment thanks to the billions invested.
Editorial team finanzen.net
Selected leveraged products on BYD
With knock-outs, speculative investors can participate disproportionately in price movements. Simply select the lever you want and we will show you suitable open-end products on BYD
The leverage must be between 2 and 20
Advertising