Byton is one of several Chinese electric-vehicle automakers suddenly vying for an entrance to the U.S. market around 2020, with a very tech-focused vision that doesn’t measure an automobile’s performance in zero-to-60-mph times but for its potency as an extension of our phones, tablets, and other smart devices. Next week, at CES in Las Vegas, Byton will preview an upcoming vehicle that exemplifies those priorities—showcasing an onboard interface “at the leading edge of connected mobility, with a constantly connected system that brings up to 1000 Mb/s—five times faster than any current mobile data connection.”
With that data throughput, occupants will be able to watch movies, video chat, play games, or get work done. The company also claims to be developing a digital platform that will aggregate information and connect you with various services.
The rest of the interior of the Byton vehicle also looks squarely in the concept-car domain, even though the company calls it a driving prototype. A 49-by-10-inch screen spans the dash ahead of both driver and passenger, while the steering wheel incorporates gesture recognition, facial recognition, emotion recognition, and touch control. On the outside, the vehicle is a rather wagonlike, low-profile crossover with a steep windshield angle as well as some distinctive front lighting.
New Name, Somehow So Silicon Valley
Byton only came to be in 2016. It derived its name from the underwhelming phrase “bytes on wheels,” which educated us on the brand’s pronunciation and might have been a clever name for a gig-economy food-delivery service. The aspiring automaker is based in Nanjing, China, and has a range of high-profile Chinese investors. It has an R&D center in Munich, Germany, and last month it opened a North American headquarters in Santa Clara, California, where it’s ramping up to a workforce of 300 employees and boasts a management team that includes former senior management from BMW, Tesla, Google, and Apple. Tom Wessner, who oversaw the supply chain for the Tesla Model S, and Jeff Chung, who managed system engineering teams for Mac products, are taking lead positions. Byton has also announced strategic partnerships with the suppliers Bosch and Faurecia.
The company says that it will launch three models—an SUV, a sedan, and an MPV, which could mean a van or another crossover—within the next five years, all based on the same platform. The production version of this first concept, the SUV, is due to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2019, the company claims, and the other two models will arrive by 2022.
Byton at this point calls its prototype the Smart Intuitive Vehicle (SIV) and notes that its suite of sensors, risk analysis, and image-processing technology—plus Level 4 automated driving features from the time of the vehicle’s launch—will ease driver stress. It mentions advanced energy management, aerodynamics, and weight reduction but has not yet presented any specifics. The company’s site suggests that the battery might provide more than 300 miles of range in some forms and that the car will be capable of recovering enough range for a week of urban commuting in the time it takes to have a cup of coffee—an indication the company is aiming for high-power, ultrafast charging at more than 150 kW.
It would be appropriate to be guarded about Byton’s viability at this point; nevertheless, it lands a spot in the broadening cohort of Chinese EV makers looking to peddle their wares in the United States—a group that now includes Nio, SF Motors, and Xpeng, among others, as well as more established (but financially challenged) Lucid Motors, Faraday Future, and the now seemingly defunct LeSee. BYD, which has a U.S. manufacturing footprint in commercial vehicles, has had the longtime backing of Warren Buffett and could at some point choose to bring its passenger vehicles here.
While none of these brands has demonstrated the cohesive plan, partners, or funding to take it all the way through to the customer—with costly support systems such as a sales and service network or parts distribution, for instance—it’s likely not so much a question of if one of these brands makes it to market but when. And then, maybe, for how long.
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