A Denza N7 SUV navigates a complex urban road with the assisted driving feature turned on and zero takeover, marking the real-life debut of BYD's assisted driving technology that doesn't rely on high-definition maps.
While many Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers have demonstrated their assisted driving capabilities via social media videos over the past few years, BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) was an exception.
Now, the company is showing off its assisted driving capabilities on complex urban roads for the first time, and seems to hope to start emphasizing that it's just as good at the capability.
BYD today shared a 2-minute, 40-second video on Weibo using a Denza N7 SUV (sport utility vehicle) to show how its HD map-independent driver-assistance technology performs on complex roads in urban areas.
Denza is BYD's sub-brand aimed at the premium market, and the 2024 N7 currently on sale was launched on April 1. On May 30, Denza announced that a new system update became available for the N7, bringing support for the urban pilot assisted driving feature.
"This is the debut of BYD's map-free city pilot assisted driving feature in real-world testing, with smooth 0 takeover throughout the entire journey, successfully traversing a complex urban village at night," BYD wrote on Weibo today.
The video shows the Denza N7 navigating narrow and complex roads that are challenging for even human drivers without having to take over the entire time.
The video is available on Weibo, at 1.5x speed, which you can see by clicking here.
BYD has been very conservative in its marketing of its smart driving capabilities over the past few years, although that doesn't seem to have stopped it from becoming the number one seller of new energy vehicles (NEVs) in China.
The company is ramping up its research and development of smart driving technology to stay relevant in what is seen as the next phase of competition in the EV industry.
Earlier this month, BYD chairman and president Wang Chuanfu said at the company's 2023 annual general meeting that BYD's team of engineers in the field of smart driving is approaching 5,000.
BYD will invest RMB 100 billion ($13.8 billion) in intelligent driving in the future, focusing on research and development of intelligent driving technologies including generative AI and large models, Wang said.
On January 16, BYD launched the Xuanji Architecture as the core of its vehicle intelligence.
In the future, BYD's high-level intelligent driving system will come standard on its models priced over RMB 300,000, while models priced between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000 offer options for the features, the company said at the time.
($1 = RMB 7.2509)
BYD unveils vehicle intelligence strategy, aims to invest over $14 billion
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