- BYD has a new ADAS suite in its portfolio.
- The so-called God’s Eye system will be offered as standard in over 20 car models.
- The top-tier version of the system was showcased on a Yangwang U9 that drove itself around a race track.
China’s BYD has proven that it can wrestle with the big boys, despite it being established fewer than three decades ago. Last year, it out-produced Tesla and became the world’s largest all-electric car maker, thanks to a myriad of models and a very aggressive pricing strategy.
Now, BYD has turned its attention to advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS). A few days ago, the Chinese automaker announced that it will offer three systems across its portfolio—and all of them are free. That’s a stark contrast to Tesla’s approach of charging $8,000 for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature. There’s also the option to pay a monthly subscription for FSD.
BYD’s overall ADAS is called God’s Eye (possibly the coolest name for a driver-assist system) and utilizes the company’s DiPilot tech in three versions. The automaker kicked off an aggressive marketing campaign to push the message across the land, starting with a video showing its flagship electric supercar, the Yangwang U9, navigating the Hunan Zhuzhou International Circuit during the day and night, all without anyone behind the wheel.
The Yangwang U9 comes with the most powerful version of the ADAS, called God’s Eye A (DiPilot 600). It has a peak computing power of 600 TOPS and can use up to three LiDdars. The second system, God’s Eye B (DiPilot 300), supports one LiDar and has a peak computing power of 300 TOPS. God’s Eye C (DiPilot 100) is the entry-level version of the system that mainly relies on cameras, millimeter-wave radars and ultrasonic radars. It has a maximum computing power of 100 TOPS and will come as standard on the $9,500 BYD Seagull electric hatchback.
This sort of marketing stunt isn’t exactly new. Back in 2014, BMW built a 2 Series that autonomously drifted on a closed course. However, the BMW was a prototype. God’s Eye is coming to over 20 BYD series production models this year.
