Deepseek's Ai Is The Hot New Feature For Chinese Cars. Here Are All The Automakers Adding It To Their Evs.

BYD has become the latest automaker to incorporate Deepseek's R1 into its vehicles.

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• DeepSeek has shaken the global tech industry and sparked an outpouring of national AI pride in China.
• Now, the country's EV giants are jumping on the DeepSeek bandwagon.
• EV firms BYD, Geely, and Great Wall have all announced plans to put DeepSeek's AI models into cars.

DeepSeek has sparked an outpouring of national AI pride in China, and now the country's EV giants are racing to add it to their vehicles.

Tesla rivals BYD, Geely, and Great Wall have all said they will integrate DeepSeek's AI model into their in-car software in recent weeks as they look for an edge in China's tech-obsessed electric vehicle market.

DeepSeek caused upheaval in the global financial markets and shaved nearly $600 billion off the value of chipmaker Nvidia when it released its R1 reasoning model last month.

The Chinese hedge fund-turned-AI lab's model matches the performance of equivalent AI systems released by US tech firms like OpenAI, despite claims it was trained at a fraction of the cost.

Its success has seen China's EV companies — which also have a track record of upsetting their Western rivals with low-cost offerings — pile in on the buzzy AI model.

At an event announcing a new advanced autonomous driving system on Monday, Tesla nemesis BYD said it would incorporate DeepSeek's AI into its Xuanji vehicle software and assisted driving tech to improve its vehicles' AI capabilities.

BYD rival Geely, which owns the EV brands Zeekr and Polestar, is integrating R1 into its Xinrui AI model, according to local media reports.

Automaker Great Wall confirmed to Reuters last week that it had incorporated DeepSeek's AI model into its "Coffee Intelligence" connected vehicle system. Legacy brand Dongfeng has also said vehicles made by its joint venture with Nissan would feature DeepSeek's models.

DeepSeek's rapid ascent has turned the company into a poster child for China's AI efforts, with local media hailing CEO Liang Wenfeng as the "AI hero of Guangdong."

Adding the latest AI models is motivated by more than national pride for these automakers, however. Chinese customers are increasingly demanding so-called "EIVs" packed with AI technology, self-driving tech, and advanced in-car software.

Geely, Great Wall, and Dongfeng did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider, sent outside normal working hours.