Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD has restructured its smart driving technology development teams, signaling a renewed focus on this critical area. The company recently spun off a team responsible for its own technology at its planning institute’s smart driving research and development center to create a separate unit named Tianxuan, according to a report by local media outlet Jiemian.
Heading the new unit is Xu Lingyun, formerly the director of smart driving at HiPhi. Xu joined BYD in September 2023 as the head of the perception technology team, reporting to Han Bing, the head of BYD’s smart driving center at the planning institute. With this restructuring, Xu now reports directly to Yang Dongsheng, the head of BYD’s planning institute.
The Tianxuan unit, which currently employs fewer than 400 people, is in the process of integrating internal staff. It aims to develop full-stack research and development capabilities in key areas such as perception, positioning, planning, control, underlying software, tool development, and data.
Meanwhile, the smart driving center under Han’s leadership will focus on supplier integration solutions. BYD collaborates with various smart driving suppliers, including Horizon Robotics, Black Sesame, Momenta, and DJI.
The establishment of the Tianxuan unit underscores BYD’s commitment to in-house technology development for its smart driving systems. This move is seen as elevating the emphasis on in-house technology to a new level, according to sources familiar with the matter.
In his address to the Tianxuan team, Xu emphasized that while BYD may have entered the smart driving field relatively late, it boasts the largest data source compared to its competitors.
Xu hinted that BYD’s in-house smart driving technology will likely debut in models under the Yangwang brand, which the company launched on January 5, 2023, targeting the market with prices around RMB 1 million ($138,000).
BYD has traditionally relied heavily on low- and mid-range models for sales, but for premium and luxury brands like Denza, Yangwang, and Fang Cheng Bao, smart driving capabilities are crucial for maintaining a price premium.
Although BYD has been cautious in its marketing of smart driving features, it has intensified its research and development efforts in this area to remain competitive in the rapidly evolving EV industry.
At the company’s 2023 annual shareholders meeting, chairman and president Wang Chuanfu announced plans to invest RMB 100 billion in smart driving technology in the future, focusing on developing intelligent driving technologies such as generative AI and large models.
BYD aims to make its high-level smart driving systems standard on models priced over RMB 300,000, while offering them as options on models priced between RMB 200,000 and RMB 300,000.
