BYD Co Ltd (002594. SZ), China’s largest electric vehicle maker, has created a new division and hired thousands to catch up in autonomous driving.
BYD senior vice president Stella Li told an investment meeting this month that 4,000 to 5,000 software experts have been hired recently.
“We are not ahead of others but we will come up with various types of innovation in two to three years,” she stated, according to a company-confirmed transcript.
BYD now advertises for autonomous driving engineers at major Chinese colleges, including Zhejiang University.
Three sources with direct knowledge said BYD established an intelligent driving research section in Shanghai last year.
They started the new division would emphasize BYD’s high-level automated driving technology.
The unnamed sources were not authorized to speak to the media. As of April, the automaker, 9.87% owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), had 660,000 employees and declined to discuss its autonomous driving plan.
BYD sold 510,000 pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars in China in the first quarter, roughly 40% of the market and four times more than Tesla Inc (TSLA.O).
Most of its automobiles have Bosch-developed ADAS.
Tesla, Xpeng (9868. HK), Nio (9866. HK), and Li Auto (2015. HK) have more advanced automated driving technologies that can let drivers take over on highways.
BYD also partnered with Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Horizon Robotics (RBOT.TO) to develop smarter cars this year.
The firms stated their next-generation Dynasty and Ocean cars would feature Nvidia’s Orin, one of the world’s most capable autonomous driving processing platforms.
Both are high-volume models, and BYD autonomous driving features would popularize the technology in China.
In the second half of this year, one of the three sources said BYD’s Han sedans would use Horizon Robotics’ Journey 5, a cheaper alternative to Orin.
The insider said the vehicle would get features like Tesla’s Navigate on Autopilot.
BYD, founded 28 years ago in southern China, has outperformed electric vehicle competitors by vertically integrating, developing, and producing batteries and other crucial components.
