When a semi-autonomous vehicle crashes, responsibility usually falls on the driver and their insurance. BYD is now offering full damage coverage for its Urban Navigate on Autopilot function — up to a point, and only in China for now.
The move builds on the company’s earlier coverage for Intelligent Parking. The automaker claims it is the “world’s first automaker to offer such dual coverage for its advanced driving assistance systems.”
One-year coverage with a big catch
The so-called “one-year full damage coverage guarantee” applies only to new buyers and existing owners who upgrade to God’s Eye 5.0 in the Chinese market. It is not a permanent policy.
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According to the policy, if a legally-liable accident occurs while the user is operating the Urban NOA function in compliance with regulations, BYD will cover all resulting economic losses. That sounds broad, but the one-year window means anyone buying the car today is covered for roughly the first year — then they are on their own.
The automaker says it is comfortable offering this because of its data advantage. It has a fleet of over 3.15 million intelligent vehicles on the road, logging more than 124 million miles (200 million km) every day. That is a massive amount of real-world driving data.
That daily mileage feeds into what the company calls a “self-evolving data flywheel.” BYD says the data supports “algorithmic learning and improvement.” Critics might note that one year of coverage does little to address long-term liability questions as autonomous features become more common.
Satellite sensors and a new AI model
Alongside the coverage announcement, the automaker revealed that its God’s Eye system is moving to an “industry-first satellite sensor architecture.” It also says it has an upgraded physical AI large model and a data flywheel built on massive real-world scenarios.
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These changes are meant to improve the system’s perception and decision-making. The exact details of the satellite sensor setup were not fully explained, but BYD positioned it as a distinctive technical step.
A 4nm chip for L3 and L4 driving
BYD also introduced China’s first 4nm automotive driving system on a chip, called the Xuanji A3. It supports L3 and L4 autonomous driving. A three-chip configuration can deliver over 2,100 TOPS of computing power. The chip is already in production and promises 20% lower energy consumption than comparable products.
Those specs are straightforward. The chip is a notable milestone for the company’s in-house technology push, though mass-market deployment of L3 and L4 driving is still limited by regulations and infrastructure beyond the chip itself.
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LiDAR across the lineup and a digital assistant
The automaker confirmed that its entire lineup can now be equipped with the God’s Eye LiDAR system. That means every model — from the Seagull to the luxury Yangwang cars — can get the sensor hardware needed for the advanced driving features.
BYD also introduced the DiLink AI Intelligent Cockpit, described as a “hyper-realistic digital assistant” that “offers proactive task execution and deep reasoning capabilities.” The assistant is meant to handle tasks like adjusting cabin settings or suggesting routes without explicit commands.
The company held its Intelligence Strategy Launch event to present all of this. It did not specify when or if the damage coverage or the new chip will roll out outside China. For now, the offer is limited to one year, one market, and one trim level.