BYD and Honor team up to merge your phone and your car

22 October 2025

It really was only a matter of time before smartphones fully merged with our cars. Car giant BYD has just announced a major partnership with smartphone maker Honor. Their goal is ambitious: to tear down the wall between your handheld device and your dashboard, creating one seamless "intelligent ecosystem." It's all about making your car and phone think and act as one.

The collaboration will link Honor's specialty in car connectivity solutions directly with BYD's own new-generation DiLink smart system. For drivers of BYD's popular EVs, this means the technology inside their car is about to get a lot more personal.

Both companies are putting their engineers together for joint technology research. They plan to co-build this new cross-platform ecosystem, focusing heavily on integrating artificial intelligence to make the whole experience feel smarter and more natural for the user.

The most immediate change might be the death of the car fob. The companies are focusing on developing high-precision Bluetooth car keys. This technology will turn any Honor smartphone into a reliable digital key that works every time, letting you lock, unlock, and start your electric car without ever taking the phone from your pocket or purse. This digital key is just the tip of the iceberg, promising a new level of convenience for vehicle access.

The deeper integration shows up in features that tackle everyday annoyances. The partnership is working on true "app continuity." Imagine looking up directions on your phone while walking to your BYD. As soon as you sit in the driver's seat, that same navigation route instantly appears on the car's main screen, ready to go.

Other promised features include screen mirroring, which projects your phone's screen onto the car's display, and a dedicated "privacy mode," which one can only hope is designed to hide your text messages from nosy passengers.

This team-up reflects a major shift in how automakers, especially those in the competitive EV market, view their products. The car is no longer just a machine for transport; it's another smart device in your life. By partnering with Honor, BYD is investing heavily in the in-car experience.

The collaboration between BYD and Honor is yet another big step in the great convergence of consumer electronics and smart vehicles. Many systems today still feel like a clunky workaround, but this partnership promises a native, deeply integrated solution. And it's an admission that the future of driving, especially in electric cars, is as much about the software and connectivity as it is about the batteries and motors.