Chinese Car Firm BYD Tests Smart Watch Products

Chinese new energy automobile company BYD is about to launch a smart watch product to replace current car keys, Cailian Press reported on March 20. BYD confirmed the news, saying that “There will be open sales of the new product in April. At present, some car owners are trying it out, and it shows up in the BYD Auto app.”

BYD’s upcoming smart watch supports intelligent car start, locking and unlocking, opening windows, the tailgate and other functions, which aim to replace the original car keys. The first batch of BYD Smart Watch’s test list was announced in early March, and a total of 20 users were eligible for beta testing.

According to official information, the BYD Smart Watch adopts a round design with the car unlock and lock key in the upper right and lower right corners respectively. In addition to replacing the original car keys, this watch also supports the basic functions of smart watches, such as step count and heart rate monitoring.

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In recent years, many car companies have stepped into the field of mobile application devices such as smartphones and smart wearable devices.

In July last year, Xingji Technology, which is controlled by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group’s Chairman Eric Li, formally acquired smartphone maker Meizu, holding 79.09% of the controlling stake of the latter and taking independent control over Meizu. In March this year, Xingji Meizu Group was formally established in Wuhan, Hubei Province. Ziyu Shen, CEO of ECARX, a car system company owned by Geely, is the chairman and CEO of the new company. According to Shen, the goal of the new company in the smartphone business is to be in the top five of the Chinese middle and high-end markets within the next three years.

Chinese car maker NIO also applied for the registration of the trademark “NIO PHONE”, and has released news about progress on the smartphone business many times. CEO William Li believes that NIO smartphones will be the best matching smartphone with its cars, and will have more “intelligent gameplays.”