- Dubbed God’s Eye, or DiPilot, this new system will be available on all new BYDs in China, free of charge.
- The cheapest tier claims to do Tesla-style navigate-on-autopilot on cars that cost less than $10,000.
- The top tier version will use three LiDAR units, and see service on BYD’s most expensive vehicles, like its Yangwang U9 supercar.
It’s self-driving, connected-car week for China. Last week, Geely and Dongfeng announced their intent to integrate DeepSeek AI into their vehicles. This week, BYD announced its new smart, semi-autonomous driving system that the brand intends to integrate into all of its models. Yes, that includes the entry-level BYD Seagull, a car that costs as little as $9,300.
Called “God’s Eye,” this tiered scheme is how BYD plans on giving every car it makes a suite of self-driving features. The highest level, God’s Eye A (DiPilot 600), uses three LiDAR sensors to power its semi-autonomous driving features. This is the most expensive system, so it’ll be relegated to use on BYD’s highest-end brand, Yangwang. God’s Eye B (DiPilot 300) only uses one LiDar unit. This system will be used in BYD’s semi-premium brand, Denza, as well as in top-of-the-line BYD flagship vehicles.
The most interesting and game-changing tier will be the lowest-cost version: God’s Eye C, or DiPilot 100. This variant is a camera and radar system, comprised of 12 cameras (3 front-view cameras, 5 panoramic cameras and 4 surround-view cameras,) 5 millimeter-wave cameras and 12 ultrasonic radar sensors. Impressive, but at least initially there are some limitations with the lowest tier. Whereas the A and B variants can do NOA (Navigate-on-autopilot) on both freeways and city streets automatically making turns and exits, the cheap tier will be freeway only. At least, initially. BYD says it plans to eventually add city navigation to its lowest-cost models. Also, all three variants will be connected to DeepSeek, which will enhance the car’s AI capabilities in some way.
It’s a little hard to understate how big of a deal this is for BYD, and the whole EV industry as a whole. For a very long time, semi-autonomous driving tech was largely dependent on price. Sensors, cameras and the tech know-how to run a semi-autonomous driving program or other smart driving features don’t come cheap, so they’d generally be only on premium offerings. BYD aims to make things a little more egalitarian by installing it on all of its new models without any changes in price. In fact, BYD’s CEO Wang Chuanfu said that “good technology should be available to everyone.” So yes, this tech will be available on bargain-basement cars like the BYD Seagull and Dolphin.
This puts the screws on everyone in China that sells cars. BYD has been at the head of what is a price war between EV manufacturers in China. Cuts have been ruthless, with BYD putting pressure on the market to drive down prices, to the chagrin of other EV manufacturers. This addition of sophisticated smart tech isn’t a price cut, per se, but these features do set the brand’s models apart from the competition. It’s going to be really, really hard for other models to compete without this kind of tech.
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