Buick Electra L7 surpassed BYD, Xiaomi and Tesla in ADAS NOA test

The China-made Buick Electra L7 electric sedan from the SAIC-GM joint venture suddenly won the ADAS competition held by the D1EV outlet in Ningbo city. It surpassed the Yangwang U7, the Zeekr 9X, the Xiaomi YU7, the Tesla Model 3, and other vehicles in the Urban NOA (Navigate On Autopilot) test.

On October 26, D1EV held the Second China Intelligent Assisted Driving Competition in Ningbo, Zhejiang. This is a comprehensive test of Navigate On Autopilot functions on urban roads. The test was held on the 29-km route with 28 traffic lights, five waypoints, and eight test sites. 17 cars participated in this test (in alphabetical order): Aito M5, Avatr 07, Buick Electra L7, Denza N7, Exeed Exlantix ES, IM LS6, Li Auto L9, Luxeed R7, Maextro S800, Nio ES6, Tesla Model 3, Wey 07, Xiaomi YU7, Xpeng G6, Xpeng P7+, Yangwang U7, and Zeekr 9X.

Conditions of the route were hidden before the test began, ensuring automakers wouldn’t prepare their cars for specific scenarios. The NOA test included narrow community roads, roundabouts, blind turns, man-made obstacles, U-turns, village roads, right turns, and rural roads. Cars departed on the route one after another at an interval of 1-2 minutes.

Results of the test

Narrow roads became the first site, testing the vehicles’ navigation and avoidance capabilities. According to D1EV representatives, this part of the road requires precise route planning and timing for obstacle avoidance. Only three vehicles asked the driver to take over: the Wey 07, the Xiaomi YU7, and the Xpeng G6.

The roundabout was the second test point, aimed to evaluate the vehicles’ lane selection abilities. Interestingly, all participating vehicles completed this task. The roundabout was followed by the blind-spot U-turn test. Here, the Nio ES6 and the Xpeng G6 asked the driver to take over. And the Denza N7 failed to follow the navigation route.

The fourth test point appeared to be a man-made obstacle – transparent plastic wrap. Only six cars out of seventeen successfully identified this obstacle: the Li L9, the Yangwang U7, the Nio ES6, the Buick Electra L7, the Zeekr 9X, and the Xiaomi YU7. It is worth noting that all of the mentioned cars have a LiDAR sensor on board. The vision-based systems could recognize the transparent barrier.

 A basic U-turn became the fifth test point, suddenly causing numerous issues. The Yangwang U7, the Denza N7, the IM LS6, the Xpeng P7+, the Xpeng G6, the Aito M5, and the Xiaomi YU7 took the wrong road. And the Li Auto L9 and the Zeekr 9X asked the driver to take over.

The village road turned into the sixth site for testing vehicles’ navigation capabilities, lane planning, and avoidance maneuvers. The Li Auto L9, the Yangwang U7, the Wey 07, and the Luxeed R7 asked the driver to take over. Other cars passed the test.

The seventh test point was the right-turn intersection with a U-turn. Six vehicles completed this scenario successfully: the Tesla Model 3, the Maextro S800, the Avatr 07, the Luxeed R7, the Xpeng P7+, and the Aito M5. The remaining cars asked the driver to take over.

A rural road with light traffic became the last test scenario for these cars. Only six models passed it successfully: the Tesla Model 3, the Li Auto L9, the Yangwang U7, the Wey 07, the Xpeng P7+, and the Xiaomi YU7.

As a result, the China-made Buick Electra L7 electric sedan with a starting price of 173,900 yuan (24,420 USD) suddenly took first place. The Buick Electra L7 became the first model to adopt the Momenta R6 Flywheel Big Model. It is reportedly based on data from 3 billion kilometers of real-world driving.

The runner-up is the BYD-made Yangwang U7 luxury sedan with a price tag of 628,000 yuan (88,180 USD). The Zeekr 9X from Geely, with a price of 469,900 yuan (65,980 USD), took the third spot. Other cars in the top five are the Exeed Exlantix ES and the Xiaomi YU7. We have gathered the results of all the cars in a table below.