Chinese carmakers have shocked the world’s auto brands with their rapid adoption of electric vehicles. Now the battleground is shifting to autonomous vehicles and many experts believe China is again claiming an early advantage.
The battle sees US groups such as Tesla and Waymo, Google’s self-driving project, pitched against BYD, China’s biggest EV group, as well as robotaxis from Pony.ai, Baidu and WeRide.
While autonomous driving for several years was viewed as an Achilles heel for BYD, the Warren Buffett-backed group rocked the auto industry in January when it revealed plans to deploy its God’s Eye advanced driving system to 21 new car models, without additional charges for customers.