BYD to adopt Huawei's smart driving system on Fang Cheng Bao's new model Bao 8

BYD is reportedly going to use Huawei's intelligent driving system on its sub-brand Fang Cheng Bao's upcoming new model, the Bao 8, in what will be the first collaboration between the two in the smart driving space.

Fang Cheng Bao is pushing ahead with the use of Huawei's smart driving system on the Bao 8, which will be the BYD sub-brand's first model with city NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) capabilities, according to a report by local media outlet LatePost yesterday.

The official launch date for the Bao 8 has been changed from the previously planned third quarter of this year to the fourth quarter, the LatePost report said.

The model aims to target the market with a price tag of around RMB 500,000 (USD69,680), with its main competitor being Great Wall Motor's Tank 700 Hi4-T.

The Bao 8 will deliver on the smart driving experience, Fang Cheng Bao general manager Xiong Tianbo said last month.

Huawei's advanced smart driving solution could be one of the Bao 8's surprises, LatePost said, adding that road test information showed the Bao 8 is equipped with a LiDAR that the Bao 5 doesn't have -- one of the hardware foundations of Huawei's Qiankun ADS 3.0.

Huawei released Qiankun ADS 3.0 in Apr, which enables advanced smart driving features including city NOA.

By 2025, Dongfeng Motor's new energy vehicle (NEV) brand Voyah, and GAC Group's Trumpchi brand will also have models with Huawei's Qiankun ADS 3.0 on board, the report added.

For BYD, this will be the first time it has partnered with Huawei in the smart driving space, after its smart driving solution suppliers were dominated by growth-stage startups, including Momenta, Horizon Robotics, Black Sesame Technologies, DJI, and Hongjing Drive.

When BYD works with smart driving suppliers, it divides the solutions into different orders and gives them to different suppliers, and the smart driving solutions for different variants of the same model could also be provided by different suppliers, the LatePost report said.

This practice helps BYD control costs and also avoids dependence on a few suppliers, the report said.

BYD's long-term goal is to develop its own smart driving solutions, and currently has more than 4,000 R&D staff in the field, more than Li Auto, Nio, and Xpeng.

Since 2022, BYD has repeatedly restructured its smart driving business and brought in external talent with the aim of consolidating resources and accelerating its in-house development progress, the report noted.

The Bao 8 will be Fang Cheng Bao's flagship model and needs to establish a premium image for the brand, and using Huawei's smart driving solution is one of the ways to do that, the LatePost report noted.