BYD shares peaked at a record high on Wednesday after the electric vehicle manufacturer announced a collaboration with AI firm DeepSeek earlier in the week.
The Chinese EV maker, Tesla’s key competitor, said it would roll out a self-driving system in all of its models, ranging from cheaper to more exclusive vehicles.
BYD founder Wang Chuanfu said on Monday that his firm sought to make autonomous driving less of a luxury and more of a commonplace safety feature.
This came after the Chinese firm had previously taken more of a cautious approach to autonomous driving compared to competitors.
The new technology, dubbed “God’s Eye”, will be available in cars worth as little as 69,800 yuan (€9,200).
BYD said it would integrate AI software from DeepSeek into at least some of its self-driving models.
Experts have noted that the AI technology could allow BYD to offer a more sophisticated voice command system and refine autonomous driving capabilities.
BYD competitors Geely, Great Wall Motor and Stellantis partner Leapmotor are also seeking to integrate DeepSeek systems into their models.
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DeepSeek notably emerged as a key disruptor in the AI sector earlier this year after it launched a model using far less computing power than US equivalents.
While this challenged assumptions about AI, San Francisco-based OpenAI was quick to accuse the Chinese firm of stealing data from OpenAI to train its models.
As more car companies move towards AI-powered features, one key hurdle is safety regulation.
Elon Musk’s Tesla, for example, is still waiting on Beijing’s green light for its totally autonomous vehicles.
As of around 2.25pm in China, BYD shares peaked at ¥346.83 (€2.18).
