China EV Giant BYD Partners With Huawei on Autonomous Driving

By Jiahui Huang

BYD, the world's largest electric-vehicle maker, is teaming up with China tech titan Huawei on autonomous driving, a move that could give it an edge in the growing field and boost sales of its premium cars.

Fangchengbao, BYD's premium brand, has signed an agreement to use Huawei's autonomous driving technology, it said on its WeChat account on Tuesday.

The first BYD vehicle to come equipped with Huawei's latest autonomous driving technology will be the Bao 8 SUV, which is set to launch after the third quarter this year. The SUV will be fitted with the tech giant's "Qiankun ADS3.0" platform that was rolled out in April.

BYD's tieup with Huawei, one of the leading players in China's autonomous driving field, comes as carmakers jostle for position in the burgeoning market. Chinese automakers are keeping a wary eye on competition from Tesla, though the U.S. company's full-service driving system has yet to be approved in China.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk had said in a quarterly earnings call in July that the system would get the regulatory nod by the end of the year.

Analysts say Chinese autonomous driving technology isn't as advanced as Tesla's self-driving system, which uses artificial intelligence to train from videos and other inputs, whereas many others use traditional coding and programming.

But many Chinese firms have been looking to narrow that gap, as competition heats up to put advanced autonomous driving features in cars.

BYD has been leading sales in China's EV market thanks in large part to its strategy of lower pricing, a key advantage in the increasingly crowded space. But its Fangchengbao brand hasn't kept up. The Huawei collaboration could help the EV maker lift the marque's flagging sales.

Fangchengbao cut prices for all of its Bao 5 models in late July following sluggish sales shortly after the series launched.

"Investors and analysts have been concerned about the sales of the Fangchengbao models," CCB International analyst Qu Ke said.

Given Fangchengbao's target market, it's likely to struggle than players in lower-priced segments given weak auto demand and subdued consumption in China, he added.

"Working with Huawei could boost the brand's competitive advantage," he said.

But whether the partnership can really boost sales will depend on BYD's product positioning, Bocom International analyst Angus Chan said.

BYD reports second-quarter earnings on Wednesday.

Write to Jiahui Huang at jiahui.huang@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 27, 2024 03:14 ET (07:14 GMT)

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