BYD offers accident cover and 4nm chip for God’s Eye

On Thursday BYD announced it will fully cover repair and compensation for accidents that occur while drivers use City Navigation, its urban assisted-driving feature, and introduced a self-developed 4-nanometer automotive chip to support wider rollout of its God’s Eye platform.

The company said the coverage applies to incidents that happen while City Navigation is engaged. BYD also pledged not to raise affected users’ insurance premiums in the year after an incident.

The new 4nm chip is designed to increase computing power and to enable Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving functions. BYD did not provide detailed performance benchmarks. The company indicated some lower-cost models could be upgraded to the God’s Eye B system for about 12,000 yuan ($1,770), allowing owners to add the software without buying a new vehicle.

Chairman Wang Chuanfu described the company’s long-term goal as ‘zero traffic accidents’ through intelligent driving technology.

The announcements come as BYD faces slowing domestic demand and rising competition in China’s electric-vehicle market. The automaker posted its steepest quarterly profit decline since 2020. A recent battery upgrade, the company’s first major revision in six years, has not reversed the slowdown in domestic sales.

Rivals Xpeng, Nio and Li Auto have been expanding autonomous capabilities trained on large-scale driving data. Tesla is awaiting full regulatory approval to deploy its most advanced Full Self-Driving features in China.

BYD has continued to expand overseas. The company registered 27,008 vehicles across Europe in April and posted 50,646 registrations in the EU in the first quarter, a 169.7% year-on-year increase that raised its EU market share to 1.8%. Including the UK and EFTA markets, BYD delivered roughly 73,847 vehicles in the quarter, equal to a 2.1% market share. Exports reached 319,751 passenger vehicles and pickups for the quarter, up 65.2% year-on-year. BYD also introduced the Dolphin G DM-i for European buyers, with a UK launch expected later this year at a starting price below £20,000.