BYD has set up an advanced technology research and development center that now has about 500 people, ramping up its investment in AI and large models.
BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY) has reportedly set up a new division to ramp up its investment in artificial intelligence (AI) and large models, as the Chinese new energy vehicle (NEV) maker puts more emphasis on vehicle intelligence.
The company has set up an advanced technology research and development center, which has divisions including an AI lab, AI supercomputing development department, and a big data platform department, according to a report in local media outlet LatePost last night.
The R&D center will focus on technologies and platforms including AI algorithms, AI infrastructure, and large models, and is tasked with providing computing power and technical support for smart driving, smart cockpit, and Dual Mode businesses, according to the report.
The center was established at the end of September and currently has about 500 people, integrating employees from departments including its former vehicle simulation technology department and the big data platform department, with plans to expand to more than 1,000 people in the future, the report said.
The new unit is a first-tier division of BYD's automotive new technology research institute, positioned like a technology central office, or the upstream unit of departments including smart driving.
The center will provide capabilities including computing power, algorithm development, and data labeling, which will be shared with BYD Group's vehicle intelligence-related departments as well as businesses including insurance and customer service, according to LatePost.
It was set up to unify the planning of resources including computing power and algorithms, and to improve the results of research and development and realization of intelligence-related technologies, according to the report.
BYD has significantly increased its investment in software and algorithms this year, launching the Xuanji Architecture in January as the core of its vehicle intelligence.
The Xuanji Architecture consists of a central brain, cloud-based AI, vehicle-based AI, vehicle networking, 5G network, satellite network, sensing chain, control chain, data chain, and mechanical chain, BYD said at a January 16 event.
BYD would invest RMB 100 billion ($13.7 billion) in intelligence in the future to lead the way in NEV development, the company's chairman Wang Chuanfu said at the time.
On November 7, another local media outlet, 36kr, said in a report that BYD planned to use smart driving features as a weapon to drive sales growth next year, as the marginal effect from price advantage begins to diminish.
The Chinese NEV maker planned to introduce variants with smart driving features for all of its models next year, with the BYD Seagull, priced in the RMB 60,000 bracket, to the Yangwang U8, priced in the RMB 1 million bracket, to be available in variants with smart driving systems, the report said.
BYD sold 3,024,417 NEVs in 2023, making it the world's top seller of such models.
For all of 2024, BYD could probably achieve annual sales of 4.25 million vehicles, the company's chief scientist, Lian Yubo, said last week.
BYD sold 506,804 NEVs in November, and its cumulative sales from January to November totaled 3,837,632 units, a year-on-year increase of 40.25 percent.
($1 = RMB 7.2840)
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