Even the cheap and cheerful BYD Seagull may soon be capable of some degree of autonomous driving.
Having all but won the EV war already, it seems that BYD is now turning its attention to the autonomous driving revolution. Such is as the Chinese automaking giant has recently unveiled its new ‘God’s Eye’ driver assistance system, with the big news being that this suite will soon see implementation across 21 models in its home market China, right down to some of the cheapest cars it currently offers!
This really rather savvy move by BYD was recently announced by CEO Wang Chuanfu during a live-streamed event, and will likely kick off another all out war in China (before spilling over to the rest of the world) as automakers compete to once again reign supreme in this sector. In delving a little deeper into what has actually been revealed regarding this God’s Eye ADAS suite meanwhile, it appears there are currently 3 distinct tiers to it, each of which feature differing levels of sensors and is tailored to different vehicle segments within the automaker’s expanding portfolio.
Starting from the very bottom with what is dubbed the God’s Eye C system, this suite will incorporate an impressive array of 12 cameras (three front-view, five panoramic, and four surround-view) alongside 17 radar sensors. This entry-level system will be available in all BYD models priced above RMB100,000 (RM 60,000) and select vehicles below this threshold, including the affordable Seagull compact EV that is currently priced at RMB69,800 (RM 43,000).
Moving up the range to God’s Eye B in turn introduces Lidar sensor technology, with this mid-tier setup set to debut in higher-end BYD vehicles and the company’s Denza and Fang Cheng Bao sub-brands. The full monty God’s Eye A system then adds to the mix even more Lidar sensors, and is currently reserved for the automaker’s ultra-luxury Yangwang brand.
Now the capability differences between these systems are substantial, with each. While God’s Eye C supports navigation-based assistance primarily on highways, the higher end B and A variants instead will extend their functionality to urban environments. BYD however did add during the unveiling of its ADAS suite that even entry-level system is expected to support the city NOA function in the long term, via an eventual OTA update.
BYD has since also stated that all variants of its God’s Eye ADAS suite will be integrating Deepseek’s AI technology, as to improve continually the AI capabilities of the vehicle and the cloud. So to the Tesla stans out there who have been hyping up Tesla’s (not remotely) Autopilot for the longest time now then, how does it feel to actually see a company putting into action the things that your god king has been blankly promising for years already?
