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BYD promises to pay for any damage caused using latest semi-autonomous driving tech
BYD’s confidence in its self-driving tech extends to covering the cost of any damage that stems from the use of its latest driving system.
BYD has officially announced that it will take responsibility for damage that results from the use of its newest automated driving system.
For now, the pledge applies only to the Chinese market, with BYD’s assurance covering use of its ‘God’s Eye’ intelligent driving system, including situations like intelligent self-parking and urban-speed ‘navigate-on-autopilot’ (NOA) functions.
In a statement released by the company, BYD claims this coverage is the first of its kind in the world; however, as far back as 2022, Mercedes-Benz also stated that drivers using its Drive Pilot system were no longer in control of the vehicle.
In the event of an incident, Mercedes-Benz claimed it would be responsible, not the driver.
BYD’s offer of responsibility does come with limitations. The company will only offer financial reimbursement for the first 12 months of ownership, after which, responsibility returns to the driver.
Dubbed the full damage coverage guarantee, the program states that BYD will cover all economic losses that occur if a legally liable incident occurs while using the Urban NOA system.
Despite the limitations, the offer opens BYD up to a massive risk if the system doesn't work as claimed. By BYD’s own estimation, the company already has over 3.15 million compatible vehicles on the road.
The Chinese brand reports that over 200 million kilometres of owner journeys are logged daily, with constant algorithmic learning and fine-tuning of the God’s Eye driving software handled by a dedicated team of over 5000 engineers.
Data is, of course, a massive driver behind being able to offer the cost-cover assurance. BYD receives vast amounts of information about how accurate its self-driving systems are, and logs any incidents that occur while using the system.
All vehicles in BYD’s current Chinese lineup are now compatible with God’s Eye-B, a LiDAR-based intelligent self-driving system that supports Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving capabilities.
The former still requires driver attention, while the latter stops short of full automation, but means the car can fully handle driving scenarios with far less driver attention.
The introduction of a new ‘Xuanji A3’ 4-nanometre automotive-grade chipset has enabled the latest self-driving capabilities, with BYD applying its own proprietary coding for its self-driving and advanced driver assist systems.
Kez Casey migrated from behind spare parts counters to writing about cars over ten years ago. Raised by a family of automotive workers, Kez grew up in workshops and panel shops before making the switch to reviews and road tests for The Motor Report, Drive and CarAdvice.
