In terms of models equipped with NOA (Noise, Auto, and Automation) functionality, Li Auto leads by a wide margin with a market share of 31.5%, followed by Wenjie and NIO, with 24.5% and 13.6% respectively. These figures indicate that intelligent driving technology is gradually becoming a crucial factor for consumers when purchasing vehicles. While continuously investing in intelligent driving technology, manufacturers are also seeking to enhance their market competitiveness through technological breakthroughs. As a leading new energy vehicle company in China, BYD is also constantly exploring and innovating in this field. Its "Eye of the Gods" system's "Intelligent Driving Equality" strategy has achieved widespread intelligent connectivity across its entire model range.
Analysis of BYD's Intelligent Driving Strategy
1. Background and Core Concepts of the Strategic Launch
At its "Dream Day" event in 2024, BYD officially released its intelligent vehicle development strategy, with the 2025 strategy focusing on "Intelligent Driving for All." "Intelligent Driving for All" aims to popularize advanced intelligent driving functions across its entire model lineup by scaling up the use of high-performance intelligent driving systems. This means that whether it's an economy car under 100,000 yuan, a mid-to-high-end model priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan, or over 200,000 yuan, everyone can enjoy the convenience and safety brought by intelligent driving. Data shows that in 2024, BYD's penetration rate for highway NOA (Noise, Assessment, and Autopilot) and city NOA was only 1.0% and 0.5% respectively, indicating that it is still in the initial stage of intelligent driving popularization. However, with its strategic layout, its advanced intelligent driving functions are expected to experience explosive growth in the future.
2. Multi-tiered product portfolio and market coverage
BYD's product lineup not only covers its flagship models like the Han, Tang, and Song, but also extends to multiple market segments such as the Seal, Sea Lion, Dolphin, and Seagull. Each model features differentiated configurations based on its positioning, achieving dual coverage of high-end and economy vehicles through flexible combinations of technical parameters. This strategy not only enhances brand competitiveness but also lays a solid foundation for the widespread adoption of intelligent driving functions across all price ranges. By bringing advanced intelligent driving features to all levels of its vehicles, BYD satisfies consumers' pursuit of technological configurations and further stimulates investment and attention in intelligent driving technology research and development throughout the industry.
BYD's technical architecture and system design
1. System Evolution: From Dipilot to the Eye of God
BYD's technological research and development in the field of intelligent driving has undergone continuous iterations from assisted driving to advanced intelligent driving. Historically, its main R&D products include the Dipilot assisted driving system and the "Eye of the Sky" system. Since its launch in 2020, the Dipilot system has achieved Level 2 driving assistance functions, while the "Eye of the Sky" system, officially launched in 2023, marks BYD's breakthrough in Level 2+ autonomous driving technology. In 2024, BYD launched a series of platform products under the DiPilot brand, using AI computing power as the core indicator for defining intelligent driving capabilities. The suffix numbers of different versions represent different computing power levels; low-computing-power versions use chips from both NVIDIA and Horizon Robotics, while mid-to-high-computing-power versions rely on advanced solutions from NVIDIA. This product naming method, centered on computing power, not only intuitively reflects system performance but also provides a unified technical identification system for subsequent product upgrades and technological expansion.
2. Detailed Explanation of the Three Versions of Eye of the Gods
In the Eye of the Gods product series, BYD divides the products into three versions: A, B, and C, which represent different levels of intelligent driving configurations.
DiPilot 600 (DiPilot A): Equipped with three LiDAR sensors, it enables nationwide map-free navigation (driving without a pre-loaded map) and four-way parking. This version is primarily targeted at high-end models, aiming to provide users with a more accurate and comprehensive autonomous driving experience.
DiPilot 300 (DiPilot 300): It adopts a single lidar configuration, has nationwide mapless navigation function, and also realizes easy three-way parking function, meeting the basic needs of mid-to-high-end models for intelligent driving.
The DiPilot 100 (DiPilot C) is primarily used for highway navigation and valet parking, making it the most widely used version and a key intelligent driving configuration showcased by BYD at its February 10, 2025 launch event.
This tiered design enables BYD to provide suitable intelligent driving solutions based on different vehicle models and market positioning, while also reflecting BYD's technical strength and market acumen in software and hardware co-design.
BYD Intelligent Driving R&D Strategy
1. A "dual-track" R&D strategy
BYD has adopted a "dual-track" development strategy in its intelligent driving technology research and development, combining independent research and development with open collaboration. On the one hand, it continuously increases investment in independent research and development to strengthen its full-stack technical capabilities, including computing chips, core algorithms, and large-scale models. On the other hand, BYD actively seeks cooperation with high-quality external suppliers and research institutions in some key technology areas. Its partners include well-known domestic and international technology companies such as NVIDIA, Horizon Robotics, Momenta, Huawei, and DJI. This dual-track strategy ensures the technological advancement of its products while reducing R&D risks and costs, and accelerating the application of new technologies in its products.
2. The rapid expansion of the intelligent driving R&D team
In just three years, BYD's intelligent driving R&D team has rapidly expanded from over 100 people in 2022 to over 5,000 in 2025, becoming one of the largest intelligent driving teams in China. This team is formed by integrating multiple R&D forces within the company and belongs to the "Automotive New Technology Research Institute." The core internal team includes...
Intelligent Driving Development Center: Primarily responsible for the mass production and delivery of solutions, ensuring the stable performance of intelligent driving systems in the vehicle.
Tianxuan Team: Focuses on the research and development of advanced intelligent driving technologies, and conducts in-depth exploration of complex scenarios such as urban NOA (Noise, Arrival, and Autopilot).
The Sirius team primarily focuses on the research and development of low-level intelligent driving technologies to meet market demand for basic driving assistance functions.
The management team, led by senior technical experts such as Yang Dongsheng, Li Feng, and Han Bing, provided strong technical support and organizational guarantees for the entire R&D system. This not only ensured the technological leadership of BYD's intelligent driving products, but also laid a solid foundation for the rapid iteration of subsequent products.
Sensor and Hardware Configuration Analysis
1. Composition and Function of Sensor Systems
The perception layer of an intelligent driving system is a crucial foundation for the entire autonomous driving technology, and BYD has invested heavily in this area. Its intelligent driving system primarily utilizes the following types of sensors.
Cameras: BYD's system typically features 12 cameras for comprehensive environmental perception. Each camera costs approximately 100 yuan, resulting in an average selling price of around 1200 yuan. The cameras capture image information of the surrounding environment, providing foundational data for subsequent image processing and decision-making algorithms.
LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging): Depending on the vehicle model, the number of LiDAR units varies from 0 to 3. LiDAR plays a crucial role in achieving high-precision distance measurement and object recognition. The cost of a single LiDAR unit is approximately between 1,500 and 2,500 yuan. The main suppliers are RoboSense and Hesai, which respectively hold approximately 80% and 20% of the market share.
Millimeter-wave radar: Typically, five millimeter-wave radars are used, with a unit price of about 500 yuan. They are mainly used to detect obstacles and dynamic targets at a relatively long distance and have good resistance to severe weather.
Ultrasonic radar: Used for short-range obstacle detection. A typical configuration consists of 12 ultrasonic radars, with a unit price of approximately 300 yuan. The cost advantage and integration effect are mainly ensured by internal supply.
Various sensors work together to build a complete environmental perception network, providing high-precision and high-reliability external information support for intelligent driving systems, thereby enabling vehicles to automatically perceive and respond in various complex scenarios.
2. Core Support for Chip and Domain Controller Technologies
In intelligent driving systems, computing chips and domain controllers are the core hardware for achieving high-performance data processing and decision-making. BYD has adopted a tiered, model-specific approach in this area:
Chip Solution: For DiPilot 100 level products, a hybrid chip solution from Horizon Robotics and NVIDIA is used; while DiPilot 300 and DiPilot 600 primarily use NVIDIA Orin X chips to ensure the computing needs of high-end vehicles in complex scenarios. BYD is advancing the development of its self-developed chips, planning to gradually apply its self-developed solutions starting with DiPilot 100, and the future DiPilot 1000 is planned to be equipped with NVIDIA Thor chips, thereby further improving the overall computing power and response speed of the system.
Algorithms and Domain Control: In terms of algorithms, the autonomous driving algorithms of DiPilot 100 are all independently developed by BYD, while DiPilot 300 and 600 rely on mature technologies from external suppliers such as Momenta and Huawei; at the same time, the domain control part is supplied by BYD Electronics, realizing deep integration of software and hardware, and ensuring the stability and efficiency of the vehicle's electronic system in autonomous driving functions.
By precisely selecting and integrating chips and domain controllers, BYD is able to achieve a stable and efficient intelligent driving experience across different vehicle models, providing consumers with a comprehensive solution ranging from basic driving assistance to advanced autonomous driving.
BYD's Intelligent Driving Technology Development Trends
With the continuous improvement of sensor technology, 5G communication, and big data processing capabilities, future intelligent driving systems will rely more on data-driven and artificial intelligence technologies. Real-time data acquisition, massive data analysis, and iterative updates to machine learning algorithms will enable intelligent driving systems to achieve higher accuracy and faster response times when handling complex traffic scenarios. BYD's DiPilot series platform, named after its AI computing power, embodies this trend and is expected to achieve revolutionary breakthroughs in algorithm optimization, scene recognition, and adaptive decision-making in the future.
Full-stack self-development and deep integration are also major directions for the development of BYD's intelligent driving system. Currently, BYD has already begun independent research and development in key areas such as chips, algorithms, and large-scale models, and plans to gradually achieve full-chain self-development capabilities from the perception layer to the decision-making layer. This will not only reduce dependence on external suppliers but also better optimize system performance and improve the overall level of intelligence. At the same time, the "dual-track" approach of internal R&D teams collaborating with external technologies will become a key factor in enhancing the core competitiveness of the intelligent driving system.
While BYD has achieved initial success in highway NOA (Noise, Alert, and Control) functionality, it still lacks competitiveness in the urban NOA field. Urban road environments are complex and traffic density is high, placing higher demands on the system's real-time performance and stability. In the future, with the continuous maturation of technology and the gradual opening of the policy environment, some automakers are expected to begin exploring autonomous driving pilot projects or commercial operations by the end of 2025 or 2026. In this process, BYD needs to learn from the advanced experience of leading companies such as Huawei, Li Auto, and XPeng, and should also increase its technological investment, conducting specialized research on complex urban scenarios to strive to narrow the gap with the leaders in urban NOA technology.
The development of intelligent driving relies not only on technological breakthroughs by individual companies, but also on the collaborative progress of the entire industry chain. From upstream sensor and chip manufacturing, to midstream software algorithms and system integration, and downstream vehicle manufacturing and after-sales service, every link supports the maturity of intelligent driving technology. Leveraging its strong advantages in vehicle manufacturing, BYD is gradually integrating intelligent driving technology with vehicle design, production, and sales, building a complete ecosystem encompassing technology research and development, product application, market promotion, and after-sales service. In the future, with continuous technological iteration and supply chain improvement, the adoption rate of intelligent driving in the vehicle market will experience exponential growth, driving the entire automotive industry towards intelligence and connectivity.
Conclusion
Intelligent driving technology is entering a leapfrog development stage from concept to practice. BYD, with its leading technological strength and profound R&D accumulation, has formed a relatively complete technology system and product matrix in the field of intelligent driving. Facing increasingly fierce market competition in the future, continued technological innovation, strengthened independent R&D, and optimized ecosystem construction will be crucial guarantees for the company's continued leadership.
