Chinese EV maker BYD promises to make all of its models self-driving capable

Chinese EV maker BYD is pretty much the king of EVs in the country, even challenging Tesla in the country. Yesterday, in a company livestream, founder Wang Chuanfu claimed that the company will make all of its models self-driving, including the cheapest ones like the $9,600 Seagull hatchback, the Financial Times reported.

Wang said that BYD is “starting an era where autonomous driving is for everyone” and that self-driving cars will “no longer be an unattainable luxury, but an essential tool.” BYD intends to power its cars with the “God’s Eye” driving system it developed in-house. According to The Straits Times, God’s Eye relies on cameras and radar sensors to perform tasks like valet parking, automatic braking and adaptive cruise control.

Additionally, BYD is joining other local EV makers like Geely, Great Wall Motor and Leapmotor to integrate DeepSeek’s AI into their autonomous driving systems. However, there’s no news about when this will happen. Of course, whether BYD will deliver its promises of accessible autonomous driving remains to be seen as well. Meanwhile, Tesla is struggling to get its software off the ground in China, so whether BYD beats it to the punch is yet another thing to look out for.