Chinese electric vehicle leader BYD recently launched its smart driving system, God's Eye, aiming to offer advanced driver-assistance features at a low cost, making smart driving more accessible to everyday consumers. However, competitors seem to be rather unimpressed.
Supply chain sources suggest that competition in China's automotive market has shifted from simply cutting prices on hardware to a more complex battle over smart driving system technologies. This shift has been accelerated by the recent rise of DeepSeek's large language models (LLM), which have spurred carmakers to incorporate such technologies into their vehicles, pushing the development of smart-driving cars in China forward at a rapid pace.
All types of technology still need to comply with regulatory practicality. China's L3 or higher autonomous vehicles are still in the demonstration phase, meaning liability for accidents generally falls on the driver or vehicle owner. Although they can claim accidents were caused by the car manufacturer's product, the burden of proof remains on the driver or owner, making it a significant challenge.
Since these systems are still in the demonstration phase, automakers can showcase their technological capabilities without fully testing them in the market. Whether the actual performance aligns with the claims remains to be seen, with the focus being primarily on the Chinese market.
On the other hand, for overseas companies, Tesla serves as a representative example, but its self-claimed L4 capabilities have yet to meet local regulatory requirements and continue to be scrutinized by various global regulators. Reports have also noted that US President Donald Trump is planning to nominate Apple employee Jonathan Morrison to oversee US automotive safety regulations, including investigations into Tesla's safety cases.
Competitors remain doubtful
Huawei's Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Consumer BG, Richard Yu, commented on the significant difference between "just usable" and "usable, safe, and well-designed" smart driving systems, which seemed to indirectly criticize certain systems in the market that only offer basic usability without providing a truly excellent and safe experience. Some Chinese media outlets have associated this comment with BYD's "God's Eye" system.
Great Wall Motors (GWM)'s senior management also stated that delivering smart driving is not easy in response to BYD's product launch. GWN chairman Jianjun Wei emphasized that smart driving is not a performance but is crucial for each user's travel experience and safety. It should meet high-frequency travel scenarios and prioritize safety and experience, which is GWM's goal.
BYD's God's Eye system is divided into three tiers: A (entry-level), B (mid-range), and C (high-end). The entry-level tier uses Nvidia's Orin N chip, while the B and C models use the OrinX chp with different processing speeds (in TOPS). The C model incorporates Horizon's Journey 6 chip as its first commercial implementation.
The system's sensors include AI, cameras, ultrasonic radar, millimeter-wave radar, and LiDAR, with the number and combination of sensors varying by vehicle model and price. The most affordable model is priced around CNY100,000 (approx. US$13,717), or even as low as CNY70,000, which is expected to shock the market.
The system's features include autonomous navigation on highways and city fast lanes, with capabilities such as ramp entry/exit, lane-keeping, adaptive cruise, autonomous lane changes, obstacle avoidance, and automatic parking. It promises 1,000KM of autonomous driving with no human intervention required.
Industry insiders point out that BYD's system primarily offers L3 functionality. However, it does not meet the commitments outlined by SAE International and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which stipulate that if L3 autonomous driving is activated and an accident occurs under certain conditions, the car manufacturer must take full responsibility.
Currently, Chinese automakers are in the same situation, with the market resembling fierce technological competition. Additionally, due to geopolitical factors, it is believed that the Chinese government will set its own autonomous driving standards rather than follow European or US regulations.
