Chinese electric car giant BYD is opening its first European factory in southern Hungary, with plans to roll out both EVs and plug-in hybrid vehicles beginning in the second half of this year.
Szeged, the third largest city of Hungary, is known for its culture and history, but now, people believe the arrival of Chinese EV giant BYD will possibly reshape its future.
"BYD brings something new, adding diversity to this agriculture-focused city. An industry like this has a ripple effect, creating opportunities. It's a big step forward," said Attila Kokuti, president of Szeged Chamber of Commerce.
BYD's multibillion-dollar factory will be the first multinational investment in Szeged, transforming the city into an industrial and economic hub.
Experts say that since the project's announcement in 2024, housing demand has tripled, and property prices have increased by 12 percent over the past year.
"When the factory starts to work, and starts to produce electronic cars, there will be a huge demand from the workforce as well for housing opportunities, and it will also increase the home prices in terms of homes for sale and in terms of homes for rent," said Lazslo Balogh, a chief business expert from ingatlan.com, an online property listings marketplace in Hungary.
Real estate agents in Szged say there are enough homes in this city of 170,000 people to satisfy demand, but they say that could change as more workers move to the city.
Szeged's Chamber of Commerce said BYD's factory could attract suppliers and tech startups, boosting the city's economy.
For real estate agents like Szilvia Dajka, who is helping BYD secure housing for future employees, the transformation of the city into a major business hub is already here.
"Currently, contractors are focusing on building traditional apartment buildings in the city. There hasn't been much of a residential building boom, but we expect that to change soon," said Dajka.
BYD's factory is set to open later this year, initially producing 150,000 vehicles annually and creating 3,000-4,000 jobs. In the future, the plant could employ up to 10,000 workers at full capacity.
BYD's first European factory in Hungary to open in late 2025
BYD's first European factory in Hungary to open in late 2025
Researchers from the Center for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have made new progress in invasive brain-computer interface clinical trials, with the second successful case involving a paralyzed patient.
According to the research team, the patient suffered a spinal cord injury in 2022 that resulted in high paraplegia. After more than a year of rehabilitation, only head and neck movement was possible. In June this year, the patient underwent implantation of a BCI system.
Following two to three weeks of training, the patient was able to control electronic devices such as a computer cursor and a tablet. To meet further needs, researchers expanded the application from two-dimensional digital screens to three-dimensional physical devices. An intelligent wheelchair and a robotic dog became new control targets.
This shift required the system to not only decode simple intentions such as "left" or "right," but also to deliver continuous, stable, and low-latency precise control to cope with complex real-world environments and interactive tasks.
According to an expert, as the patient became more proficient, the level of mental concentration required was significantly reduced.
"The experience is very close to how we normally control our own bodies. Once you are very skilled, it doesn't require much mental effort -- just like being able to chat while driving," said Zhao Zhengtuo, researcher from CEBSIT.
To achieve this, the team made multiple technical breakthroughs.
At the data source level, they developed high-compression, high-fidelity neural data compression technology and innovatively combined different compression methods. This allows effective information to be extracted efficiently even in noisy neural signal environments, improving overall brain-control performance by 15 to 20 percent.
The team also replaced traditional calibration methods with an "online recalibration" technology that silently and continuously fine-tunes decoding parameters in real time to maintain high system performance. Control speed has also been significantly improved, with intentions and actions now almost synchronized.
Notably, the research team has partnered with a local federation for persons with disabilities to enable the patient who can control a computer via the BCI to participate in online data annotation work, such as verifying the accuracy of AI recognition in vending machines. This makes the patient China's first paraplegic to earn income through labor using a brain-computer interface.
Researchers revealed that a third patient has now had a BCI implanted for nearly two months. Future applications will focus on more refined movements.
"[The next step is] to use the intention of finger movements to control robotic fingers to interact with the external world," said Poo Mu-ming, scientific director of CEBSIT, and also a CAS academician.
Chinese researchers complete 2nd successful case in invasive brain-computer interface trial in Shanghai
