Source: AutoTech

Recently, BYD's push for "autonomous driving accessibility" has stirred up a storm in the automotive industry. Who will feel the brunt of this technological democratization? Whose market share will BYD's commitment to equality threaten?

BYD Lowers the Bar for Autonomous Driving

In the past, Wang Chuanfu's statement that "autonomous driving is unsafe, it's all a scam" sent shockwaves through the industry. At that time, despite rapid advancements, the technology faced significant bottlenecks, and frequent accidents cast doubts on its safety. The handling of complex road conditions and extreme scenarios made autonomous driving appear inadequate, and Wang Chuanfu's viewpoint reflected concerns about the technology's immaturity.

However, times have changed, and BYD has announced that all vehicles priced above 100,000 yuan will come standard with high-level autonomous driving. This move has profound implications.

From a technical standpoint, autonomous driving technology has made significant strides in algorithms, sensors, and other areas. The application of end-to-end large models enables vehicles to recognize and make decisions more accurately, significantly enhancing safety. Market demand is also driving this transformation, as consumer expectations for smart cars continue to rise, making intelligent driving functions a key consideration in car purchases. To stand out in the fiercely competitive market, BYD must embrace this trend, leveraging intelligent driving as a new selling point to bolster product competitiveness.

The "Divine Eye" intelligent driving system launched at BYD's Intelligent Strategy Conference was a game-changer in the industry. The system comprises three versions: the triple-laser version for the Yangwang brand, showcasing high-end features; the laser version covering Denza and select BYD brands, enhancing quality; and the triple-camera version primarily installed on BYD brands, achieving widespread adoption. This multi-version configuration caters to the needs of different consumer groups, comprehensively deploying intelligent driving technology from the high-end to the mass market.

For the automotive industry, BYD's move is akin to a catfish entering a pond, stimulating market vitality. Previously, intelligent driving was mostly exclusive to high-end models, but now BYD is making it available on models priced above 100,000 yuan, disrupting the market structure and compelling other automakers to reassess their intelligent driving strategies, increase R&D and investment, and accelerate the popularization and advancement of intelligent driving technology.

New carmakers have always viewed intelligent driving as their core competitiveness, and BYD's entry into the market has intensified competition. They must continually innovate and enhance their intelligent driving capabilities to maintain market share. Intelligent driving suppliers will also be impacted, with BYD's large-scale demand prompting suppliers to optimize costs, enhance performance, and drive the development of the entire supply chain.

For practitioners in the field of intelligent driving, this is both an opportunity and a challenge. It will usher in more R&D projects and job opportunities but also place higher demands on individual technical skills.

Automotive Industry: Escalating Price War and Accelerated Technology Popularization

1. Intelligent Driving Threshold Drops to the 100,000-Yuan Market

Through the Divine Eye technology matrix (DiPilot 100/300/600), BYD has extended high-level functions such as highway NOA and valet parking to models like the 70,000-yuan Haiou, achieving "high-end technology democratization" for the first time. This strategy breaks the previous paradigm where intelligent driving functions were only popularized in high-priced models, urging other automakers to accelerate their follow-up efforts. For example, Geely and Changan have plans to deploy urban NOA functions in 150,000-yuan models.

Data Comparison: Among BYD's 2025 sales target of 5 million vehicles, over 60% will be equipped with highway NOA, driving the penetration rate of intelligent driving from 8.7% in 2024 to 20%.

2. Reshaping Market Competition Logic

BYD's strategy of "adding features without increasing prices" transforms intelligent driving from a premium selling point to a standard feature, akin to the necessity of seat belts and airbags. This move compresses the market space of new forces (such as NIO and XPeng) and traditional luxury brands that rely on intelligent driving premiums, forcing the entire industry into a stage of "technology democratization" competition.

3. Accelerating Industry Elimination

Wang Chuanfu predicted that "in the next 2-3 years, vehicles without intelligent driving will become a minority." Combined with BYD's scale advantage (annual sales of 4.27 million vehicles, the world's largest vehicle cloud database), second-tier automakers that fail to achieve mass production of intelligent driving by 2025 may face the risk of elimination.

Intelligent Driving Industry: Supply Chain Restructuring and Technological Route Competition

1. Supplier Landscape Reshuffle

Chips and Algorithms: BYD employs a dual-track model of "self-research + external supply," with Horizon Robotics, NVIDIA, and Huawei as key suppliers. Horizon Robotics may become the biggest beneficiary due to its adaptability to the needs of low- and mid-priced models (such as the Journey 5 chip).

Sensors and Domain Controllers: The cost of lidar has dropped to 2,000 yuan (with RoboSense as the primary supplier), and the proportion of self-supplied millimeter-wave radars and cameras has increased, posing competition for domain controller suppliers like Desay SV Automotive from BYD Electronics' self-research.

2. Technological Route Differentiation

End-to-End Architecture Popularization: BYD's DiPilot 100 adopts a pure vision solution, promoting the implementation of end-to-end technology in the low- and mid-end markets. However, high-end models (such as the Yangwang U8) still rely on lidar fusion solutions, forming a "technological stratification" market.

Data-Driven Iteration: Relying on the data accumulation of 4.4 million L2+ models, BYD accelerates algorithm optimization through federated learning, potentially narrowing the technological gap with Huawei and Tesla.

3. Deepening Ecological Cooperation

BYD's collaborations with Huawei (FANGCHAO models), Momenta (joint venture), and DeepSeek (large model distillation) mark a shift from closed self-research to open ecological co-construction by automakers. For instance, the DeepSeek R1 model helps Geely improve AI interaction and scenario generalization capabilities, indicating that the "automaker + AI company" alliance will become a new trend.

New Carmakers: Survival Space Squeezed and Differentiation Breakthrough

1. Pressure on Price Bands

The main models of new carmakers (such as XPeng G6 and Lixiang L7) are concentrated in the 200,000-400,000 yuan range. BYD's decision to deploy urban NOA in 150,000-yuan models directly impacts their market share. If they cannot create a generational gap in experience or cost, new carmakers may be forced to reduce prices or narrow their product lines.

2. Weakening of Technological Moats

New carmakers once had the advantage of full-stack self-research and rapid iteration, but BYD has swiftly compensated for its shortcomings in algorithms, computing power, and data volume through a research and development team of over 10,000 people (including more than 5,000 intelligent driving engineers). For example, the Divine Eye system has achieved "nationwide mapless CNOA," directly competing with XPeng's XNGP and Huawei's ADS.

3. Exploration of Differentiated Paths

Some new carmakers are turning to niche markets:

User Experience Upgrade: Lixiang emphasizes the concept of "mobile space," while NIO deploys battery swapping + intelligent driving integration;

Ecological Integration: Xiaomi relies on its AIoT ecosystem to build a car-home interconnection scenario.

Intelligent Driving Practitioners: Opportunities and Challenges Coexist

1. Explosive Talent Demand

BYD's intelligent driving team has expanded from a few hundred to over 5,000 within a year, and has recruited senior executives from companies like Volvo and Horizon Robotics, driving up industry salaries. For instance, the annual salary of algorithm engineers generally reaches 600,000-800,000 yuan, and the salary of high-level talents can double when switching jobs.

2. Pressure for Technological Route Transformation

The popularization of end-to-end architecture requires practitioners to shift from traditional modular development to large model training and optimization, mastering new skills such as causal reasoning and federated learning. The cooperation case between BYD and DeepSeek shows that AI and large model capabilities will become core competitiveness.

3. Enhanced Job Mobility

Chip giants such as NVIDIA and Qualcomm are accelerating their layout of intelligent driving solutions, attracting talent from companies like XPeng and Baidu. At the same time, traditional automakers (such as Geely and Chery) are increasing their investment in intelligent driving, forming a talent cycle of "new carmakers → traditional automakers → technology companies."

Long-Term Industry Trends: Standardization and Ecologicalization

1. Accelerated Technological Standardization

BYD's promotion of intelligent driving functions as standard features may lead to industry-unified evaluation benchmarks (such as MLPerf Autonomous Driving Edition) and safety standards (ISO 26262 extended to probabilistic safety).

2. Vehicle-Road-Cloud Collaboration Implementation

BYD's V2X federated learning framework has been validated in Suzhou High-Speed Rail New Town, with roadside equipment sharing 40% of computing power demand. The future transition from "single-vehicle intelligence → group intelligence" will rely on the collaboration of automakers, governments, and technology companies.

3. Business Model Innovation

New forms such as "algorithm liability insurance" and "data banks" are emerging, with insurance companies dynamically pricing based on model transparency, and automakers amortizing costs through data trading, forming a sustainable business closed loop.

Conclusion

BYD's press conference was not just a technological declaration but also a catalyst for industry reshuffling:

For automakers: Intelligent driving has evolved from a "bonus feature" to an "entry ticket," with technology democratization compelling the entire industry to upgrade;

For suppliers: There is a need to balance cost control and technological innovation, with leading enterprises (such as Horizon Robotics and Huawei) benefiting, while smaller players face elimination;

For practitioners: Accelerated technological iteration demands lifelong learning, and cross-border cooperation and ecological integration capabilities have become crucial for career advancement.

As Wang Chuanfu noted, "Electrification is the first half, and intelligence is the second half." BYD is igniting the flames of competition with its scale advantage, and the true winner will emerge in the next 2-3 years.

BYD's promotion of autonomous driving accessibility has shattered the notion that "intelligent driving equals high-end premium" but has also brought about the pain of industrial restructuring. As the electrification revolution enters its second half, BYD is leveraging its proficient strategy of "cost reconstruction + technology democratization" to replicate its success in the new energy era within the field of intelligent driving. After competing in hardware, BYD is now pressing the fast-forward button for industry reshuffling in intelligent driving. Who will be eliminated in the 2025 elimination round?

Of course, from an industry technology perspective, BYD still needs to race against time to climb to the pinnacle of intelligent driving.

Once autonomous driving accessibility is initiated, it will never go backward.

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