On May 11, the Chinese think tank HiEV Research Institute published a report that BYD developed and will launch a new advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) called DNP. The first car featuring DNP will be a 2023 Han premium EV sedan and will be released in Q4.
BYD was originally a battery company that eventually started making cars. Their vertical integration is impressive: they control their lithium mines, develop their batteries, produce cars, own a fleet of massive carriers, and recently purchased an insurance and car rental company.
One thing BYD wasn’t so active was as software. They didn’t have any significant ADAS system, and the quality of in-car SW was, let’s say, average. It seems it changes as BYD adds the last puzzle to the picture.
BYD cars compete head-to-head with Tesla models in China, mainly with more favorable prices. BYD Seal, for example, is 15% cheaper than Model 3, and BYD Song SUV offers various options with similar parameters and lower prices than Model Y. Today, BYD opens another front line where Tesla remains unchallenged in terms of quality – software.
Tesla offers two types of self-driving tech – Full Self Driving (FSD) and Autopilot. FSD is supposed to be fully autonomous driving in the future, aimed at city traffic and urban roads. It is not available in China yet, but there are rumors that it will come soon. Autopilot is a standard ADAS system named for highway driving.
According to the report, the BYD’s DNP will focus on highway driving, thus indicating it will compete with Autopilot in the field of ADAS SWs. BYD might add an FSD competitor in the future.
BYD will also compete with Xpeng, which took a similar approach as Tesla. They have their XNGP ADAS system for highway driving (Tesla’s Autopilot and BYD DNP competitor). Recently, they launched their most advanced NGP (Navigation Guided Pilot) for the city and urban driving.
After Han, other cars that will get DNP will be SUV Tang and Song, together with BYD’s subbrands Denza and Yangwang. The mysterious yet-to-be-launched F brand will also feature DNP.
BYD cooperates with Horizon Robotics, supplying them with Journey 5 autonomous driving chips. Horizon Robotics is a Volkswagen-backed leading supplier of autonomous driving solutions in China with customers like Li Auto, DiDi, and Pony.ai. VW owns 60% of HR.
BYD also cooperate with Nvidia on intelligent driving technology and will use Nvidia DRIVE Orin SoC in their cars in the future, according to BYD
Editor’s comment
It’s great to see BYD moving from mainly an HW company to the more SW side. BYD is sometimes called Tesla without drama. However, I never liked that comparison. BYD can’t be a more different company than Tesla. The only common thing is that they make cars. BYD always seems more traditional to me. Where Tesla uses direct online sales, BYD relies on classic dealers’ networks. Tesla has no PR department and minimum marketing, whereas BYD has a great marketing department and lots of PR efforts. Tesla is an SW company making cars, while BYD is a battery company that makes cars.
But, when I think about it, there is a second thing they share in common. Both Tesla and BYD cars use Blade LFP batteries from BYD.
Anyway, it’s great to see two very different approaches that lead to the same goal and work well.
Keyword: BYD to launch DNP ADAS to compete with Tesla’s Autopilot, chips supplied by VW-backed company