BYD to ship Autopilot features across the entire lineup, from Seagull to Yangwang U8, in 2025

BYD will start delivering NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) smart driving features across its entire lineup in 2025, a report says. BYD wants to “democratize” access to L2+ smart driving by deploying it even on the cheapest EVs, like the 68,900 (9,500 USD) BYD Seagull.

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The Shenzhen-based automaker is unchallenged in China’s EV sales but lags in software, ADAS (advanced driver-assistance system), and smart driving features.

BYD cooperated with several ADAS providers, such as drone maker DJI or Huawei, but it still offered advanced ADAS only in several EVs. This will change in 2025, as the company is ready to ship its in-house developed ADAS algorithms across the entire lineup, “from budget BYD Seagull to million-yuan Yangwang U8, ” according to a 36kr report.

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The pivoting towards software started in September 2023 when BYD established the ADAS smart driving team, which now consists of 1,300 people, report notes. In January 2024, the company announced it would invest 100 billion yuan (13.6 billion USD) into ADAS development.

The BYD’s ADAS team is focused on developing urban smart driving CNOA (City Navigate on Autopilot) and highway navigation HNOA (Highway Navigate of Autopilot).

Industry insiders didn’t expect BYD to move so fast. If BYD manages to ship its ADAS in the first half of 2025 as planned, it will be a blitzkrieg, the report notes. Suppliers, who have 36kr interviews, said they recently received requests for highway ADAS solutions for 100,000 – 150,000 yuan (13,600 – 20,500 USD) EVs from other automakers, but delivery is expected in 2026 at the earliest.

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The 2024 price war will continue to be brutal in 2025. However, there will be one change. It will not be purely price competition and a race to the bottom but also configuration competition about who can offer the best smart driving specs at the bottom.

“BYD installs 7/11 cameras and front-facing “three-eye vision” cameras even on 100,000 yuan level EVs, fillings to MIIT shows”, highlights 36 kr. 7/11 camera setup means the ADAS system adopts 11 cameras, and 7 of them are long-range cameras, while four others are wide-angle parking cameras. BYD is expected to sell 5,5 million vehicles in 2025, and 36 KR cites its sources that the company placed orders for 1 million chips to Nvidia and Horizon Robotics.

BYD’s ADAS is currently divided into three categories:

• DiPilot 100 – entry-level ADAS with 100 tops and basic NOA function, powered typically by Drive N Orin chip from Nvidia to Journey 5 from Horizon Robotics
• DiPilot 300 – mid-tier ADAS with HNOA semi-autonomous highway driving, single lidar, and single Nvidia Orin X chip and 300 tops
• DiPilot 600 – high-end ADAS with both HNOA and CNOA for urban driving, multiple lidars, L3 driving, 508 tops, powered by two Nvidia Orin X chips

In 2025, BYD plans to launch an advanced ADAS version of the BYD Seagull and other EVs. By year-end, the goal is to have the whole lineup support some level of smart driving features.

In 2024, urban smart driving functions were implemented on EVs at an average price of above 200,000 yuan (27,300 USD). In 2025, the urban NOA function will become standard on EVs at 150,000 yuan (20,500 USD), and in 2026, it will be standard on 100,000 yuan EVs, 36kr cites the leading smart driving company manager. The report concludes that highway NOA will be installed on 100,000 yuan (13,600 USD) level EVs this year.