BYD crash pledge tests driver trust

BYD has moved to reassure drivers over assisted-driving safety by pledging to cover some crash-related losses linked to its God’s Eye system, a step that could reshape expectations in China’s fast-moving smart-vehicle market while leaving key liability limits firmly in place.

The Shenzhen-based carmaker said users of God’s Eye A, God’s Eye B and God’s Eye 5.0 would receive one year of cover for accidents occurring while the urban navigation function is being used in line with system rules. The programme applies to direct economic losses that the vehicle should bear, including repair bills, third-party property damage and personal injury liabilities. It is not a blanket guarantee for every crash involving a BYD vehicle or every use of its assisted-driving software.

The announcement comes as BYD seeks to accelerate adoption of its three-tier driver-assistance technology at a time of slowing domestic demand, aggressive price competition and closer scrutiny of automated-driving claims. Chairman Wang Chuanfu has said the company aims for “zero traffic accidents” through intelligent-driving technology, positioning God’s Eye as both a safety tool and a competitive weapon in the world’s largest electric-vehicle market.

The scope of the pledge is significant but narrow. Coverage depends on the City Navigation function being active and used correctly. Drivers must comply with operating requirements, which means responsibility can still remain with the user if the system is misused, ignored or applied outside its approved conditions. The offer also does not convert BYD’s assisted-driving systems into fully autonomous products. China’s mass-market assisted-driving functions remain largely within supervised driving, requiring motorists to stay alert and ready to intervene.

BYD’s move follows an earlier promise to assume liability for losses linked to certain autonomous parking functions, including repair costs, third-party property damage and personal injury compensation where faults or algorithm errors were established. The new pledge extends the trust-building strategy from parking scenarios into more complex urban driving, where vehicles must handle intersections, lane changes, pedestrians, cyclists and unpredictable traffic behaviour.

The timing underlines the commercial pressure facing BYD. The company’s first-quarter net profit fell 55.4 per cent from a year earlier to 4.1 billion yuan, while revenue dropped 11.8 per cent to 150.2 billion yuan. Vehicle sales in April fell 15.5 per cent from a year earlier, marking an eighth straight monthly decline. Overseas sales have remained a bright spot, but the home market has become tougher as rivals discount heavily and roll out more advanced software.

China’s electric-vehicle industry has entered a phase where battery range, charging speed and price are no longer enough to secure leadership. Advanced driver assistance, artificial intelligence chips, large driving models and software updates have become central to the sales pitch. BYD is trying to bring these features into the mass market rather than restrict them to premium models. The company has also shown a self-developed 4-nanometre chip designed to support higher levels of autonomous-driving capability and said some budget models could be upgraded to God’s Eye B for 12,000 yuan.

The strategy places BYD in direct competition with Xpeng, Nio, Li Auto, Huawei-backed vehicle platforms and Tesla, all of which are seeking consumer confidence in increasingly capable driving-assistance systems. Tesla is still awaiting full regulatory clearance for its most advanced driver-assistance features in China, while domestic competitors have been training systems on large volumes of real-world driving data. BYD’s scale gives it an advantage in data collection, but it also raises expectations for reliability across a wide range of vehicle prices and driving environments.

Regulators have become more cautious after high-profile safety concerns involving assisted-driving systems. China has been working on rules that would strengthen driver-monitoring requirements and clarify how automakers describe automated functions to consumers. Authorities want innovation to continue, but they are also trying to prevent overstated marketing from encouraging drivers to treat assisted-driving systems as self-driving vehicles.

For consumers, BYD’s pledge may reduce anxiety over insurance costs and crash liabilities, especially if repairs and third-party claims are covered without affecting premiums for the following year. For the industry, it raises the competitive bar. If drivers begin to expect manufacturers to stand behind assisted-driving systems financially, rival carmakers may face pressure to offer similar cover or explain why they will not.

The policy also creates legal and operational challenges. Each claim may require evidence that the correct function was active, operating within its approved domain and used according to instructions. Vehicle data, software logs and driver behaviour records could become central to deciding whether BYD pays. That process may test consumer trust as much as the technology itself, particularly in disputed cases where human and machine decisions overlap.