Chinese automaker BYD has formed a joint venture with autonomous driving startup Momenta to develop semi-autonomous tech for its range of cars, Reuters reports. Called DiPi Intelligent Mobility Co, the new firm is headquartered in Shenzhen and has a collective investment of 100 million yuan (RM66 million).
According to a person familiar with the matter, BYD invested 60 million yuan (RM39 million), while the remainder comes from Momenta. The informant also said the initial scope of work will include deploying “Level 2 plus” autonomous driving capability across selected vehicles.
A Level 2 partially automated system facilitates acceleration, braking self-steering and lane keeping duties, with some including traffic jam assist and traffic light recognition. It still requires full human supervision, because the system isn’t equipped to handle more complex collision mitigation situations.
BYD is just one of many automakers venturing into automation. The movement has attracted tech giants such as Nvidia, which recently announced its state-of-the-art Drive Hyperion 8 autonomous driving platform – an all-in-one solution developed specifically for full self-driving systems.
It will be supplying the system to Lotus, QCraft, Human Horizons and WM Motor, as well as Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Nio and VinFast – just to name a few.
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