The chairman of the Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD noted that the automobile 'autonomous driving (smartification)' is expected to be realized within 2 to 3 years, according to a report by the Chinese economic media outlet Caixin on the 30th.
According to Caixin, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of BYD, said the previous day at the '100 Chinese Electric Vehicle Forum' held in Beijing, 'The change from feature phones to smartphones also took 2 years,' adding that 'the transformation speed in the second half of electric vehicles will be very fast, and it will take about 2 to 3 years.'
Given that the Chinese automotive industry defines the first half of the competition as electrification and the second half as autonomous driving, it appears that Wang's reference to the second half refers to autonomous driving. The 100 Chinese Electric Vehicle Forum held that day is an event where major corporations, officials, and experts from China gather.
Wang emphasized at the forum that BYD is focusing on overseas expansion of new energy vehicles, including electric vehicles, hydrogen vehicles, and HYBE. He noted that 'Chinese new energy vehicle technologies, products, and industry networks are leading the world by 3 to 5 years, and Chinese automotive corporations must seize this opportunity well.'
As of 2023, BYD recorded higher electric vehicle (including plug-in hybrids) deliveries than Tesla in the U.S. According to energy market research firm SNE Research, BYD's sales last year reached 4.137 million units, a 43.4% increase from the previous year. The gap with Tesla, which experienced a 1.1% decline (1.789 million units), has widened to 2.3 times.
However, it has been reported that there are concerns at the forum that the computing power of Chinese corporations does not match that of Tesla. According to Caixin, Li Chang, deputy general manager of Alibaba Cloud and CEO of the automotive and institutional sector, based on a global automotive corporation survey conducted by Alibaba Cloud at the end of last year, said, '(Chinese) top domestic corporations possess only a fraction of the computing power compared to Tesla,' adding that 'Tesla has much more computing power and more opportunities for innovation and trial and error.'
Caixin, citing anonymous sources, stated that 'Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) capability is significantly ahead of China's smart driving systems and should not be underestimated,' adding that 'Tesla's FSD in China will awaken Chinese corporations to accelerate their pace of catching up.'