Karmactive Team
Chinese car maker BYD has just changed how we think about self-driving cars. The company now offers advanced self-driving features in its $9,600 Seagull car – about one-third the price of current self-driving vehicles.
Think of BYD’s new “God’s Eye” system as an extra set of eyes on the road. It can park your car while you stand outside with your phone, and safely pass slower vehicles on the highway. Until now, you’d need to spend at least $30,000 on a Tesla or other luxury car to get these features.
“Good technology should be available to everyone,” says BYD’s founder Wang Chuanfu. His company is backing up these words by putting this technology in all their cars priced above $13,688, and even in three cheaper models.
The system works differently in each car model. More expensive BYD cars use special sensors called LiDAR that can detect objects more precisely than cameras in rain and darkness. Cheaper models use cameras, which still work well but might need more help from the driver in bad weather.
This move is already shaking up the car industry. BYD’s stock price has gone up, while competitors are struggling. “The biggest revelation from BYD is that they want to equalize the right to technology. Technology does not need to be high-end and they can fight a price war here,” explains Yale Zhang from Automotive Foresight.
BYD knows what it’s doing. They sold over 4 million cars in 2024, more than Tesla in China. They started making batteries for other companies before expanding into making their own cars. Now they build cars in many countries, including Brazil.
The cars use smart software called DeepSeek AI to help make driving decisions. Wang believes these self-driving features will become as essential as seatbelts and airbags.
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Experts predict that by 2025, 15 million new cars in China will have some self-driving abilities. John Zeng from GlobalData says this technology will help BYD sell even more cars, though other companies might struggle to offer the same features at such low prices.
This change means more than just cheaper cars. As more people use these self-driving features, the technology gets better because each car learns from real driving situations, collecting and processing more data to improve the system.
BYD’s success shows how China is becoming a leader in electric and self-driving cars. By making this technology affordable, they’re not just selling cars – they’re changing how we think about driving.
