It’s called Xuanji Architecture and at BYD they describe it as “the North Star that guides you in the right direction”. Chinese brands are very fond of definitions in images, even when it comes to very concrete cutting-edge technologies such as this integration strategy that opens a new era for smart new energy vehicles (an expression widely used by Chinese manufacturers to indicate pure electric and hybrid cars in particular, in 2023 BYD produced a total of over three million of them). Xuanji is an intelligent architecture that acts as both the car’s “brain” and neural network, bringing together a central unit, all on-board sensors and satellite connectivity, to instantly optimize the vehicle’s status and ensure greater safety and driving comfort.

YangWang U8

The Xuanji architecture also marks the first application of artificial intelligence in BYD vehicles and capitalizes on the huge database available to the company, whose technological know-how is impressive, as we saw in Shenzhen, where the global headquarters of China’s leading automotive group is located.

YangWang U9

BYD stands for Build Your Dream and the intent is precisely to demonstrate that solutions and technologies that might seem imaginary are already reality, as in the case of the mega SUV YangWang U8: thanks to the four independent motors it can rotate on itself like a tank (a very useful function for a vehicle over 5.3 meters long), it is able to float and move in the water in emergency situations while maintaining the direction and obviously parks on its own, showing agility even in the narrowest passages. All functions developed thanks to the e4 platform, the same that also forms the basis of the U9 super sports car, another model with the YangWang brand created just over a year ago to join the BYD brands (with the Dynasty and Ocean series), Fang Chen Bao and Denza in the group.

Wolfgang Egger, Global Design Director of BYD

Wolfgang Egger and his team, one of the largest in the automotive industry, is responsible for the design of all the group’s brands, with more than 1000 people of a dozen different nationalities working in four studios (three in China and one in Los Angeles). We went to visit him in the Black Chrystal, the futuristic design center of the BYD global headquarters inaugurated in Shenzhen in 2019 and the meeting will be the subject of a forthcoming article in issue 265 of Auto&Design to be published in March.