TMTPost -- China’s top electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer BYD Co. Ltd. takes a major step to  keep up with autonomous driving trend.

Credit：BYD

Huawe Technologies Co. said it has signed an agreement with BYD to further their strategic cooperation, carrying out in-depth joint research and development (R&D) of intelligent driving for BYD's off-road EV brand Fangbao Bao. Under the new agreement, BYD will work with Huawei to launch Bao 8 under Fangchengbao, its first EV model equipped with Huawei’s most advanced autonomous driving system Qiankun ADS3.0. Bao 8 will also be developed into the first off-road model powered by Huawei’s smart driving technogloy.

Huawei said teams of both companies and have created the project about Bao 8 and conducted R&D for a long time. It is expected that Bao 8 backed by Huawei’s latest smart self-driving technology will hit the market follwing the third quarter of the year.  

Advanced Driving System (ADS) is a Huawei-developed approach to smart self-driving cars. ADS 3.0 is the latest generation of the system under Huawei Qiankun software brand. Unlike the previous generation Huawei ADS 2.0, Huawei Qiankun ADS 3.0 represents a comprehensive upgrade and evolution of the system in terms of mapless intelligent driving, collision avoidance and all-scenario parking. Huawei said  Qiankun ADS 3.0 is the industry’s first product to allow Navigation Cruise Assist (NCA) from parking space to parking space. 

Introduced in April at the Beijing Auto Show, Huawei Qiankun ADS 3.0 solution based on the 3.0 architecture supports several significant features like an anti-collision system and remote parking which enhance the overall driving experience for users. With cloud and real vehicle training, road and scene recognition in ADS 3.0 is vastly improved, which allows the system  to understand the situation and make decisions closer to an experienced human driver. Huawei has upgraded previous version of ADS  to the GOD, or general obstacle detection, network which builds upon the architecture seen with bird’s eye view (BEV) network and GOD network seen in ADS 2.0.

Bao 8 is the second model of Fangchengbao. It is hoped that BYD's partnership with Huawei will boost the sales of its premium Denza brands and improve the profitability of Fangchengbao and Yangwang brands. The three brands accounted for just 5% of BYD’s total sales in the first half of this year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Huawei said development of the model has been well into the stage of behind-the-wheel test for real vehicles. The tie-up with Huawei and upcoming model marks BYD’s latest efforts  for autonomous driving.  A spokesperson for BYD said in April 2023 that the company thinks self-driving tech that’s fully separated from humans is “very, very far away, and basically impossible.”  However, BYD has been investing heavily in developing its own advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) by hiring thousands of engineers since last year. Earlier this year, the company announced a US$14 billion investment in smart car technology, including autonomous driving software and driver-assistance systems.

At a meeting with investors late March, BYD chairman and CEO Wang Chuanfu predicted a decisive battle will break out in the automotive industry the next three years, just like previous battles in sectors of the home appliance, the solar energy and the mobile phone. The leader was reported to tell investors that the new energy vehicle (NEV) industry had entered a "knockout round" with a battle in scale, cost and technology to be played out from 2024 to 2026. he believes scale is the most critical for any player who can survive.