(Yicai) Jan.17 -- China’s BYD, which has pushed aside Tesla to become the world’s top-selling electric carmaker, will invest more than CNY100 billion (USD14 billion) in intelligent driving, according to its chairman.

“The era of intelligent driving has arrived,” Wang Chuanfu said at a press conference yesterday to launch new products such as the Xuanji smart architecture, Xuanji artificial intelligence model, and Dilink intelligent cockpit.

BYD sold over three million cars last year, up 62 percent from a year earlier, the company said on Jan. 1. That surpassed its American competitor Tesla. The high sales volume should give BYD massive amounts of data to help the Shenzhen-based company optimize its smart driving technologies, according to Great Wall Securities. 

BYD has an intelligent driving team of more than 4,000 people, including more than 3,000 software engineers, Wang said.

Smart driving is not the same as unmanned driving because the conditions for rolling out autonomous driving are not yet met at this stage due to laws and regulations and technical maturity, Wang said, adding that BYD began to develop automotive intelligence very early to meet users’ needs in real conditions.

Technologies developed by BYD and its highly self-reliant industry chains can greatly lower the bar to experience smart driving, Wang said, adding that this year, the firm will launch more than 10 advanced driving models equipped with Light Detection and Ranging, or Lidar.

In the future, buyers of BYD models priced above CNY200,000 (USD28,000) can choose to include an advanced driver-assistance system, while the technology comes standard in models costing more than CNY300,000.

Just as demand for mobile phones rose after they became smarter, the development of intelligent cars should drive additional consumption, and as prices fall, more vehicles will be upgraded, Zhongtai Securities wrote in a recent research report.

Editor: Emmi Laine