This BYD has a hitch attached to it and manages to drive away on three wheels.

A video shared on Chinese social media shows a scene that’s hard to believe. A huge BYD SUV is driving down a street with one of its front wheels lifted and a immobilizer still in place. This maneuver has brought renewed attention to one of the Chinese manufacturer’s most astonishing technologies.

There are times when manufacturers develop technologies that seem straight out of a science fiction movie. Systems capable of making a car spin on its own, overcome complex obstacles, or even continue driving when one of its wheels loses contact with the ground. What’s less common is to see these capabilities used on real streets, let alone under such unusual circumstances.

This is exactly what seems to have happened in China, where a BYD Fang Cheng Bao Bao 8 was filmed moving on three wheels while a metal cage was attached to the fourth wheel. The scene quickly caught attention on social media and demonstrates how far the suspension technology developed by this Chinese giant can go.

The images, initially shared via Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, show the massive SUV moving along a commercial street in Jinshan, within Lianyungang city in Jiangsu province. There are shops, parked cars, traffic, and pedestrians around it, so this wasn’t a demonstration in a closed circuit.

The most striking feature is that the car keeps its left front wheel completely lifted, with a yellow and red metal spike still installed. Meanwhile, the other three wheels remain in contact with the asphalt, allowing the vehicle to keep moving.

Although the images appear to show an attempt to drive despite one wheel being immobilized, it has not been confirmed who was driving the car, why the spike was installed, or what happened after the recording.

BYD’s suspension that enables three-wheel driving

To understand how such a maneuver is possible, we must go back to May of this year, when BYD introduced an upgrade to its advanced DiSus-P Ultra hydraulic suspension system.

This technology made its debut in the Fang Cheng Bao Bao 8 Flash Charge Edition, a version of the plug-in hybrid SUV that featured significant improvements in both its charging system and body control.

During its presentation, the Chinese manufacturer demonstrated some of the capabilities of this suspension, including a particularly impressive feature: lifting one wheel independently while allowing the vehicle to continue moving supported by only the other three wheels.

The demonstration took place in a testing facility under controlled conditions. There, BYD showed how the system could lift one of the wheels while the vehicle continued moving slowly, maintaining balance thanks to the hydraulic management of the suspension.

The DiSus-P Ultra allows for independent adjustment of the height and behavior of each wheel. According to the specifications released during its presentation, it features a suspension adjustment range of up to 200 millimeters, while the individual lifting capacity of one wheel can reach 300 millimeters.

In addition, the system has a maximum lifting capacity of 9 tons, a figure that gives an idea of the strength exerted by its hydraulic components.

This technology was clearly not developed to evade parking fines. Its applications include the ability to replace a wheel without using a conventional jack, improving the capacity to overcome certain obstacles, and facilitating maneuvers in complex situations.

It also allows continued movement at low speeds on three wheels, though BYD set a limit of 15 km/h for this function during its demonstrations.

The video released now does not contain verified speed measurements, so it is impossible to determine whether the driver was adhering to that limit.

What does seem clear is that the system allows the wheel to remain locked high enough so that the spike doesn’t make contact with the ground as the car moves forward.

The incident also raises some questions about the safety and legality of using this feature on public roads. One thing is demonstrating a suspension’s capabilities in a closed area, but it’s quite another to drive among pedestrians and other vehicles with a wheel lifted and a metal element attached to it.