BYD, the world’s largest maker of electric vehicles (EVs), will invest 100 billion yuan (S$19 billion) to develop smart car features, its founder and chief executive officer Wang Chuanfu said on Tuesday (Jan 16).

Wang did not give a specific time frame for the investment or more details. The move comes as the Chinese carmaker tries to narrow the gap with rivals making vehicles gussied up with more high-tech features.

BYD plans to introduce a feature it calls Navigation on Autopilot that will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel and feet off the pedals in certain scenarios. The system requires drivers to touch the steering wheel every 15 seconds. It will come installed in cars that cost more than 300,000 yuan and will also be available as an upgrade option for vehicles priced at over 200,000 yuan. BYD did not disclose whether drivers will be responsible for crashes if they occur.

Advanced driver assistance systems, as they are formally known, are increasingly a major selling point for consumers in China and beyond. Smart cars can be placed on autopilot on some highways and in some cities, as well as park themselves. Leading players in China such as Xpeng and Huawei Technologies use Adas features to set their vehicles apart and command higher prices.

Xpeng has long been considered among the most advanced Chinese manufacturers when it comes to smart driving, with its navigation guided pilot system or XNGP rolled out to 52 cities nationwide. The system can make cars automatically accelerate, brake, detect traffic lights and change lanes by crunching real-time data through Lidar sensors and cameras.

Xpeng’s models also can come with a memory parking feature where a car can guide itself through multiple levels in a parking garage to a preselected spot.

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BYD’s Navigation on Autopilot feature already comes installed in its Denza N7 EV. It will be added to the automaker’s luxury Yangwang brand models, BYD said, and likely to some of its more mainstream series of cars.

As part of its presentation at the glitzy event in Shenzhen, BYD also went over other non-driving features that it’s looking at adding to enhance drivers’ experience.

The Yangwang U8, which retails for around one million yuan, will be able to come with a vehicle-mounted drone and its own housing case. Engineers redesigned the steering wheel so it can detach from the control column and then drivers can use it and the car’s pedals to play video games, such as car racing.

In some of its other higher-priced models, BYD is adding palm-print motion sensor technology to enable drivers to open car doors by waving at them.

BYD also gave more details on its overseas push, with a company spokesperson confirming its Denza brand, 10 per cent owned by Mercedes-Benz Group, will launch in Europe in the fourth quarter of 2024. BYD is planning on exporting its Yangwang and Fang Cheng Bao brands as well.

Yangwang and Fang Cheng Bao will also likely get name rebrands to better suit an international market, the spokesperson said. In December, exports accounted for around 11 per cent of BYD’s monthly sales.

The company on Monday formally unveiled the first of eight cargo ships it will take delivery of over the next two years to help it export its EVs across the world. BLOOMBERG