PicoBlog

Recently, a LatePost Report came out with news about BYD’s Current ADAS program. Much of the details in there have been reported in other places, but it was a good summary of BYD’s philosophy on the entire matter.

There is no shortage of Huawei fans slamming BYD’s tech and clamoring for BYD to sign up to HW’s tech. But the reality is that BYD is the big fish for every firm providing ADAS solutions, so will source from as many suppliers as possible.

BYD has made huge investment in ADAS. As early as 2021, it established JV with Momenta is a 60/40 JV for developing algo. A few months later, it reached cooperation with AI chip company Horizon Robotics. That partnership has now blossomed to usage of Journey 3, Journey 5 and Journey 6 chips. In between, it also selected Nvidia Orin to supply chips for its higher end up models.

As HiEV 独家 reported earlier this year, BYD had different solutions for different algos and chips. It was planning to use J5 chips with BYD Han in 11V5R configuration. Target would be to achieve Highway NOA along with high level of City LCC. This would be followed with Tang and Song models. 晚点 Auto also said something similar here. Apparently, BYD not only works with Momenta, but also DJI, Holomatics, Sensetime and Baidu. Basically, BYD wants to have different solutions for different models. BYD is such a behemoth that it can work with so many different parties.

At the same time, BYD recruited some high end people to work both in its SoC/chip designing team as well as its ADAS team. Under the leadership of 韩冰, BYD has built the largest smart car team around. It built new OS called BOS for ADAS platform. In June presentation, 韩冰 showed the computation platform BYD built for U8 and the amount of data they had already collected for their ADAS platform

Similarly, they built computation platform for N7 (both full spec Orin & nerfed Orin)

Concept is pretty simple. You develop computation platform and OS for ADAS. You can go with less powerful or more powerful computing chips depending on the sensors you have and the cost of your car. Someone buying high end ADAS on N7 will get 2 Lidars and 254 TOPS computation. You can also buy the lower package with no Lidars and 84 TOPS computation.

The LatePost article went even further than this, BYD is working with Nvidia, Horizon, Black Sesame and TI to supply various chips for its platform. It is working with Momenta, DJI, Neusoft and Freetech to provide algos for different car models. There are so many companies competing for BYD’s business, there is no reason BYD won’t get as much tech/knowledge transfer as it needs.

Which leads to the next obvious point. BYD is the most vertically integrated company out there. Why would it rely on external suppliers when it already has worked with them to figure out how to get its algos to work? It wouldn’t. Through its 60/40 JV, BYD will learn everything it needs from Momenta and eventually just do all its own algos. If Li Auto/NIO/XPeng can do it, why can’t BYD?

Beyond that, if AI startups can design 100 TOPS chips, why can’t BYD do at least that much? It has already invested in Kunlunxin and Horizon, likely to have gained some knowledge of how their chip works. Based on current rumors, Li/NIO/XPEV are all designing their own AI chips that will have as much as 1000TOPS. I don’t see any reason BYD cannot design a competitive AI chip for itself over the next 2 years. I think it will continue to use Horizon’s Journey 6 SoC, but it can easily develop lower to medium end AI chips. It only needs a 100TOPS chip to have fully functioning Highway NOA as shown in recent N7 test drives.

Beyond that, BYD also won’t source sensors from other companies in the long term. Earlier this year, it unveiled RF1 front facing MMW Radar after its RB! side Radar already had over 1 million deliveries. This will replace the MMW Radar its currently sourcing from ChangTech and Bosch. It is also expected to start mass producing its first 4D MMW Radar this year. Next year, Bosch and ChangTech will see a lot less business from BYD

Beyond that, BYD also produces its own CMOS Image sensors and its own camera modules for its cars. Although, it does source externally also.

Last April, BYD made an investment into leading Laser Chip developer Vertilite. Its core products are VCSEL chips for 3D sensing and Lidars. BYD clearly needs Laser chips for both Lidars and sensing products. It has already used laser chips for road preview sensors on its U8 & N7 smart chassis platform. So, it’s obvious Fudi Tech will also develop its own Lidars in a year.

By 2025, BYD will have its own ADAS SoC, Lidars, 4D Imagine radar, cameras sensors, 8 MP camera modules, ECUs (for power steering, suspension & parking brakes) and leading sensor integration+autonomous driving algo. And it will have the most cost efficient ADAS solution for every price range.

Since BYD will be China’s largest EV/smart car exporter, its smart car software will also be used by rest of the world. Then, the world will know how smart cars should operate. And this will be contrasted with Tesla, who will continue to struggle for L3 ADAS because they refuse to use Lidar or advanced MMW Radar.

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