Foreign Automaker Unveils$ 9, 500 Self-Driving Auto

BYD, a Chinese carmaker, announced that self-driving capabilities would be normal on its overall lineup, including its least expensive car.

The company made its” God’s Eye” driver-assistance system standard equipment on 21 upgraded models, from the ultra-luxury” Yangwang U8″ down to the ultra-cheap” Seagull” —a tiny hatchback that costs just 69, 800 yuan ($ 9, 500 ).

That’s one third the cost of a Model 3, Tesla’s cheapest vehicle.

Latin American countries will be able to buy the car under the” Dolphin” name.

The Taiwanese automaker appears to have abandoned a DeepSeek trend in the auto sector. Due to a big emphasis on effectiveness, the vehicle is so affordable. For example, Global China EV reported that the BYD developed a tracking system that costs 2, 800 yuan ($ 383.29 ) per unit to produce—a fraction of the cost of the industry average for such technology, 20, 000 yuan ($ 2737.76 ).

Instead of relying on the pricey laser detectors used by most western manufacturers, the company made money by developing a combination of cameras and sensor.

A large cloud network that BYD built with communications huge Huawei serves as the backbone of BYD’s self-driving vehicles. The” Xuanji Architecture” coordinates operations between cloud AI and vehicle AI through three communication layers: car network, 5G, and satellite network. According to BYD, the community has been processing 1.2 gigabytes of driving information every day.

The structure came in three flavor. The standard” God’s Eye C” uses 12 devices and various radar detectors. The mid-tier” B” edition adds a laser device, while the best” A” standard gets three more laser. However, the bottom set includes features like bridge self-driving that are generally only found on luxury vehicles.

The God’s Eye program offers features like the ability to change lanes and go through lanes on highways and distant park via smartphones. These capabilities also call for vehicle supervision and limited autonomy, though.

By comparison, Tesla charges$ 8, 000, or$ 99 per month, for its full self-driving package.

China’s news from yesterday is yet another attempt to dominate the fiercely competitive world Vehicle car market. In an effort to make western rivals more appealing, the European Union imposed tariffs ranging from 17 % to 35.3 % on Chinese electric cars. The taxes between the US and Canada are now as high as 100 %.

BYD is building a factory in Hungary and sourcing pieces from other European nations in an effort to break through trade restrictions in Europe.

The Seagull proved BYD’s ability to sell at size, becoming the bank’s best selling electric vehicles with 453, 593 sales in China during 2024. While keeping its 74-horsepower machine and highest range of 405 meters, the updated edition adds top parking sensors and a surround-view lens system.

Even with a 100 % tariff, the low-end BYD car would be nearly$ 10, 000 cheaper than the$ 29, 280 Nissan Leaf, which is the cheapest EV car in the U. S. market, fully autonomous, self-driving cars are not yet available.