I just came back from a 2 week trip to China, visited Beijing, Nanjing, Wuxi, and Shanghai. The last time I visited was 2014, and the the growth of both EVs and home grown brands is staggering in that period of time. I saw a lot more Nios and Li Auto vehicles than I would've expected given their sales numbers. In the south I saw a lot of Roewe's, and the French cars have all but disappeared. I remember going back to China in 2009 and 2014 and seeing Peugots and Renaults everywhere in the south, and I had to look them up because I didn't know any French car brands (there aren't any in the US). This time I hardly saw any.
One of my relatives in Nanjing who learned how to drive when he was 60 years old is driving an Aito M7. It's a damn big vehicle to be driving around the busy streets of Nanjing, but perhaps it's because he learned driving so late he uses the self-driving tech extensively. The ADAS had some issues with busy roundabouts and at the railway station, but was overall very impressive. I was also quite impressed with the way he used the ADAS. He described it as driving with 2 people and it really was like that. To a lot of us who have been driving since we were young it can feel exhausting supervising the ADAS, but to him a default driving mode that he simply needs to fine tune occasionally. It was a big safety net for him as it sees 360 degrees and can see over the car in front of him.
I rode in quite a few BYDs when I hailed Didi's. One issue I noticed is that in a lot of the EVs I rode in is that the ride is more stop and go than in ICE's. I'm not sure if it's because the regen braking is too aggressive or if the drivers aren't used to using it, but rather than coasting and then easing into braking while in traffic it seems to go directly from accelerating to braking too abruptly. Maybe someone who's driven them vs. say Teslas can offer some insight.
