Growing the EV Market: BYD to use Huawei’s Autonomous Tech

The world’s largest electric-vehicle (EV) maker, BYD, is partnering with Chinese technology giant Huawei to use its autonomous driving system in its off-road Fangchengbao EVs.

Hoping to gain an edge in a growing EV market, BYD is seeking this partnership to boost sales of its premium cars. The Fangchengbao lineup will be the first BYD model to utilise Huawei's Qiankun intelligent driving system and go on sale later in 2024.

Launched in April 2024, Qiankun is designed to provide self-driving systems involving the driving chassis, audio and driver's seat. It speaks to how the EV market is investing further into AI and automation in order to make its cars more attractive to potential buyers.

Huawei’s partnership with BYD comes during a time where the EV leader is eager to improve profitability, with its three premium brands of cars only making up 5% of its total sales in the first half of 2024.

The state of the EV market

EVs are continually treated as a powerful next-step in vehicle engineering, with autonomous vehicles promising to make transportation safer and more enjoyable. In fact, McKinsey research has predicted that electrified passenger vehicle sales will reach 40 million in 2030.

“Further rapid market growth, huge technological advancements and intense competition across the whole value chain is coming,” Ken McMeikan, CEO of Moto Hospitality previously told Technology Magazine. “Vehicle technology will rapidly evolve to enhance performance and reduce costs. Charging technology will evolve to satisfy improvements in vehicle and battery technology, and improve utilisation across all vehicle types and use cases.”

In 2024 so far, EV sales have slowed slightly as the leading organisations compete for attention. It is no surprise then that these organisations are turning to new and diverse methods to make cars.

BYD using Huawei technology highlights the true pressure on larger EV companies to deliver the latest technology. By improving smart driving configuration, BYD aims to maintain its dominance in the market. So far, the organisation has a significant cost advantage thanks to its vertical integration strategy, which involves making key components of cars such as batteries.

The company has been investing heavily in developing its own advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS) and hired more than 4,000 new engineers last year, much like competitor XPeng, to boost AI and automation offerings. It also introduced its XUANJI architecture, which acts as both a brain and neural network for its vehicles.

As a whole, the company has invested roughly US$14bn into smart car technologies, focused on AI to improve processes, with more developments to come. Given the speed in which AI continues to develop, plenty of businesses across multiple sectors are scrambling to align their developments with the technology to remain competitive.

Huawei: A commitment to competitive digital transformation

As a business, Huawei only continues to grow. Its 2023 Annual Report highlights that it generated revenue of US$99.5bn with a profit of US$12.3bn, surpassing the likes of Tesla.

“A new journey awaits us in 2024,” Huawei Rotating Chairman Ken Hu said at the time. “We will create greater value for our customers and society by driving open innovation, building thriving ecosystems, and succeeding through quality.”

The organisation’s partnership with BYD is well-established and continues to evolve to encompass multiple areas of technology and innovation. Prior to this latest announcement, both companies have collaborated on intelligent driving technologies, with BYD leveraging Huawei’s expertise in AI, 5G and cloud computing to advance its capabilities in new EVs and rail transport systems.

In addition, the two companies have developed a range of smart factory solutions for BYD. Huawei previously helped the EV leader to build a high-quality 10 Gbps data centre campus network that features ultra-fast access, superb experience, simplified architecture and simplified operation and maintenance.

The network supports various scenarios within production, which includes the production of batteries and semiconductors and warehousing operations. 

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