Changan Launches SDA Pilot, Proprietary Intelligent Driving Technology
Changan Group has launched SDA Pilot, an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) developed by Changan’s engineering team as part of its independent intelligent driving technology development.
“Changan’s intelligent driving team has grown from just a few engineers to more than 7,500 people, supported by a total R&D investment reaching over 7.7 billion Euro (Rp157 trillion). We will continue to execute our intelligent transformation strategy and develop our core technologies independently,” said Changan Group Chairman Zhu Huarong in a press release received in Jakarta on Friday.
SDA Pilot is available in three levels: Pro, Max, and Ultra, with higher levels to be introduced in the future. As the highest variant, SDA Pilot Ultra is equipped with 31 active safety features, Highway NCA and Urban NCA—intelligent Navigation Cruise Assist features that are part of Changan’s autonomous technology—as well as intelligent parking assist capable of handling over 400 scenarios.
The system is powered by a computing chip with a capacity of 560 TOPS and 256-line LiDAR to process information with millisecond response times. Alongside the launch of SDA Pilot, the Changan Nevo Q06 has officially opened for pre-orders as the first production model equipped with SDA Pilot Ultra.
Changan stated that the development of intelligent driving technology began in 2009. In 2011, the company developed prototypes for forward collision warning and lane departure warning functions, before mass-producing the Level 2 IACC (Integrated Adaptive Cruise Control) system in 2018. On 20 December 2025, Changan received its first official licence plate in China for Level 3 conditional autonomous driving.
“Changan began developing intelligent driving technology in 2009, when this technology was still part of laboratory research in China. SDA Pilot is the result of the various experiences and lessons we have gained during that process,” said Changan Group President Zhao Fei.
To produce more natural driving behaviour, the SDA Pilot end-to-end large model is trained using more than 20 million segments of real-world driving data. Changan has also developed the Changan SDA Lab as a centre for intelligent driving development and testing.
The facility supports 24/7 testing, over 400,000 virtual simulation scenarios, and journey simulations of up to 3.3 million kilometres per day, covering various climatic conditions across 224 regions worldwide. For user interaction, SDA Pilot utilises an interactive navigation system based on a multimodal large model that combines visual and voice capabilities. Users can issue commands using everyday language, while the system can also remember driving patterns and preferences.
Through development and testing from the laboratory to real road conditions, Changan stated it continues to strive to identify potential risks from the early stages to ensure the technology provides a safe and reassuring driving experience for users.