Sudden! Tesla FSD has been initially approved in China.
[car home Information] On the evening of April 29th, Beijing time, according to the Wall Street Journal, people familiar with the matter disclosed that the China municipal government had initially approved Tesla to launch the "FSD fully automatic driving capability" software function plan in China. At the moment when the news was announced, Musk was still on a plane from China to the United States.
On April 28th, while everyone was still immersed in the joy of China brand bosses visiting each other at Beijing Auto Show, Musk’s private jet landed at Beijing Capital Airport that afternoon, which made everyone wonder whether Musk would also show up at the booth of Beijing Auto Show, or even renew his frontier with Lei Jun.. However, Musk soon appeared at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse and held talks with the President of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade. In less than 24 hours of intense travel, Musk was more low-key than his last visit to China, but he did a big thing quietly.
On the morning of April 28,It is reported that Musk’s flight is flying to Asia. Recently, Musk is busy with the project of super factory in India. Some even speculate that Tesla is shifting its focus to the Indian market due to the decline in sales in China. However, without any signs and news, Musk’ s flight is14: 00 pm Beijing timeLanded at Beijing Capital Airport. There was no publicity on this trip. After getting off the plane, Musk boarded the motorcade arranged by Tesla China, accompanied by only Tesla’s colleagues such as Zhu Xiaotong, senior vice president of Tesla’s automobile business, and Tao Lin, vice president of Tesla.
This adds a mysterious color to Musk’s itinerary.Soon, that afternoon,Ren Hongbin, president of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, met with Musk. During the talks, the Chinese side stated that China always welcomes foreign investment with an open attitude, Tesla is a model of foreign cooperation, and China will provide a better business environment for foreign enterprises.
Ren Hongbin, president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, pointed out that worldwide, the China government attaches great importance to fostering a market-oriented and rules-based business environment. Various associations and institutions will also provide a very favorable environment for the investment of foreign investment companies including Tesla.
The State Council Prime Minister Li Qiang said that Tesla’s development in China is a successful example of Sino-US economic and trade cooperation. China’s super-large-scale market will always be open to foreign-funded enterprises, and it is necessary to speak Chinese dialect. We will continue to make efforts in expanding market access and strengthening service guarantee, so as to provide foreign-funded enterprises with a better business environment and more powerful comprehensive support, so that enterprises from all over the world can invest in China with peace of mind.
That night, Musk’s personal Weibo updated, "It’s an honor to meet with Premier Li Qiang. We have known each other for many years since we first met in Shanghai. " The State Council Prime Minister Li Qiang also said during the talks that "Musk is an old friend of his, because the epidemic has not met for four years, but he has been paying attention to Musk’s innovative spirit and enterprise development." Li Qiang also recalled the pictures of their previous meeting. Later, Li Qiang and Musk had dinner at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Six years ago, in July 2018, Li Qiang, who was still a leader in Shanghai, met with Musk in Shanghai, and then Tesla Super Factory officially settled in Shanghai Lingang District, which was the largest foreign-funded manufacturing project in Shanghai’s history. At the same time, Tesla (Shanghai) Electric Vehicle R&D Innovation Center was unveiled. The Shanghai factory also became Tesla’s first overseas super factory outside the United States. In the following two years, Li Qiang and Musk had many talks, and Li Qiang was also very concerned about Tesla’s development in Shanghai.
On April 28th, China Automobile Industry Association and National Computer Network Emergency Technology Processing Coordination Center issued the Notice on Testing Four Safety Requirements for Automobile Data Processing. All the models produced in Tesla Giga Shanghai meet the compliance requirements, and it is the only foreign-funded enterprise that meets the compliance requirements.
Tesla, as the first enterprise to pass the national authoritative vehicle data testing, meets the four compliance requirements stipulated by national laws and standards: anonymous processing of external face information, default not to collect cockpit data, in-vehicle processing of cockpit data, and significant notification of personal information.
Tesla said in an official statement that this policy shows that all localities have gradually lifted the ban on the prohibition of intelligent networked cars such as Tesla.
Reuters said that data security and compliance have been the key factors that restricted the landing of FSD in China. Since 2021, China regulators have required Tesla to store its collected data in Shanghai, which made it impossible to send any data back to the United States. According to sources, Musk has been seeking approval to transfer data abroad to help improve the autonomous driving technology algorithm.
Because the road conditions in China are more complicated than those in foreign countries, it is necessary to collect relevant data so as to optimize the software. With the map service license, Tesla will be allowed to run FSD software on roads in China and collect data about the surrounding environment of vehicles, such as road layout, traffic signs and nearby buildings.
Musk’s trip promoted the further resolution of the key regulatory obstacles that have long prevented FSD from landing in China. The main purpose of this meeting was to seek permission for FSD to land in China and want to transmit data overseas. In China, all intelligent driving systems must be qualified for surveying and mapping before they can run on public roads. Foreign companies need to cooperate with licensed China companies, and Baidu is one of the partners.
Sources have said that Tesla has reached an agreement with Baidu Map to use Baidu’s license to collect data on public roads in China, which is a key step for FSD to enter China. Baidu will provide Tesla with a lane-level navigation system.
According to sources of CBN, Baidu Map has recently been approved as an "Advanced Assisted Driving Map", among which the advanced assisted driving map GS(2023)4634 submitted by Baidu Zhitu Technology Co., Ltd. for navigation is a lane-level map jointly completed by both parties. The cooperation between Tesla and Baidu Map is "exclusive" and deeply customized.
Just two days before Musk came to China, People’s Daily Online published an exclusive interview with Tao Lin, vice president of Tesla, entitled "Tao Lin: Autonomous Driving, Key Driving Force for New Energy Vehicles to Develop New Quality Productivity". The article mentioned that "autonomous driving technology is becoming a key driving force to promote the development of new quality productivity in the new energy automobile industry with a revolutionary attitude." This article introduces the advantages of Tesla’s autonomous driving and the new business model it will bring.
At the end of the article, it is mentioned that "Tesla will always adhere to scientific and technological innovation, rely on Shanghai Super Factory, and join hands with upstream and downstream partners in China to continue to help local talent training, accelerate the integration and development of artificial intelligence and new energy industries, accelerate the joint construction and improvement of China’s intelligent manufacturing industry chain, and strive to contribute to the high-quality development of new energy industries." Tao Lin’s interview article was published two days before Musk’s visit to China, which obviously indicated that FSD would accelerate its landing in China.
After Musk’s talks on the same day, Tao Lin, vice president of Tesla, released Weibo again. "In today’s meeting with the Prime Minister, Musk also talked about the prospect of artificial intelligence and autonomous driving. Let us look forward to more exciting fields such as energy and transportation. Tomorrow!"
Here we also noticed another point, Musk’s in-depth discussion on the future intelligent transportation development of artificial intelligence machines. On the night of the meeting, Musk immediately announced on the social platform that he would invest about 10 billion US dollars (about 70 billion yuan) for comprehensive training and reasoning artificial intelligence technology. In communication with the president of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Musk said when talking about the brain-computer interface, "Whenever you put something into the human body, it takes a long time to prove its safety. I think it will be approved for use in about a year or two. " Not long ago, Tesla released the financial report for the first quarter of 2024, showing that the on-board computers of all S3XY models have evolved into the hardware 4.0 era with stronger information processing and camera capabilities, and the artificial intelligence training calculation has improved by more than 130%.
At the beginning of this year, Tesla Model Y launched a new model, which indicates that all models sold in Tesla have upgraded the HW4.0 hardware system. The camera pixel of HW4.0 has increased from 1.2 million pixels to 5 million pixels, and the maximum visual detection distance has changed from 250 meters to 424 meters. HW4.0 has a high degree of color reproduction, which is closer to the real vision seen by the naked eye; For night or backlight, the camera of HW4.0 is also clearer; At the same time, the fisheye camera at the tail has a wider viewing angle; In addition, HW4.0 can also see the words on the electronic signs clearly, while HW3.0 is sometimes difficult to see because of the stroboscopic problem of the screen; The image seen by Tesla camera has also changed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and the objects seen are more three-dimensional.
"Image quality comparison between 『HW3.0 (left) and HW4.0 (right) cameras"
At the same time, according to Tesla’s official statement, its chip computing power is five times that of the original, that is to say, it will be upgraded from 144TOPS in HW3.0 to 720TOPS in HW4.0, and the number of CPU cores will be increased from 12 to 20 to help quickly process image information.
The HW4.0 hardware is obviously a little overqualified for the only EPA-enhanced automatic assisted driving function in China. It is currently an automatic assisted navigation system for high-speed scenes. The application of HW4.0 is to deal with more complicated road environment, which is suitable for the automatic assisted driving function of urban streets. This is what everyone calls FSD at present, and Tesla calls it full automatic driving ability.
"Tesla uploaded by netizens started FSD』 in American city streets"
At present, the trial version of FSD has been launched in the American market, and its hardware system based on HW4.0 will have better performance, which can realize automatic assisted driving of urban roads, while the artificial takeover rate can be very low. From the overseas video, FSD can react quickly to the driving scene like a mature driver. Basically, after you have established enough trust with the car, you can basically trust the steering wheel to the car. Even if it can pass through some extremely narrow roads to ensure safety, it can also drive on narrow roads without lines. In March, Tesla also pushed the version of FSDV12.3.1, introduced the "end-to-end neural network" technology, and used artificial intelligence technology to influence vehicle control through deep learning of over one million driving data, instead of hard coding every driving behavior.
That is to say, if the FSD is approved by the regulatory authorities in China, the FSD system based on the current US road research and development will soon start internal testing in China, collect relevant data, and optimize the software in combination with the data of China road, thus paving the way for large-scale promotion. Once FSD is approved by the regulatory authorities, the process of landing FSD in China will be further accelerated.
"『FSD has been added to the owner’s user manual"
Last year, Shanghai has indicated that it will deepen cooperation with Tesla to promote the layout of autonomous driving in Shanghai. At the same time, Tesla China also responded that FSD was being promoted when the country deployed the pilot project of L3 access and road traffic for intelligent networked vehicles last year.
Maybe the truth is faster than expected,It has been reported by the media that the time for Tesla to introduce FSD into the China market is tentatively scheduled for this summer.The sales team of Tesla has already spoiled the news in advance and has begun to arrange customers to experience the new features of Tesla models. Although it is not explicitly stated, the sales staff seems to be hinting at the FSD function, but they cannot directly tell customers.
On April 29th, there was another spoiler. Today, the cars in the internal test can stop by themselves when the red light is on, and start by the green light (some functions of urban assisted driving), but some functions have not been opened yet, and the restrictions have not been lifted. At the same time, the source also revealed that domestic FSD subscriptions will have new prices, and they can be subscribed weekly, which may be as low as 50 yuan. There is also news that FSD Beta has started to push in a small range, which will provide traffic signals and parking identification, more accurate lane change function and more efficient route planning. According to the Tesla user APP, the description of the purchase page of Tesla China’s official FSD service has been changed from "coming soon" to "coming soon".
"At present, the official price of China FSD is 64,000 yuan, and many China brands of automatic assisted driving have been given away for free."
Recently, when Musk replied to a user on social media platform X asking when Tesla would launch FSD in China, he said, "It may be realized soon."
During the talks on April 28th, we saw that Musk showed confidence and ease both in the talks and in answering reporters’ questions, which was completely different from the youth who came to China when the Shanghai factory was put into production. At that time, China was still a market full of unknowns in Musk’s heart. Now, Musk has more confidence, and even when answering reporters’ questions, he is extraordinarily relaxed and has become a talkative diplomat. "I am very happy to see the progress made by electric vehicles in China. All cars in the future will be electric." At the moment, he really knows China very well. "I am a fan of China. I must say that if I have a lot of China fans, then the feelings are mutual. I am a huge fan of China."
All this seems to mean that things are progressing along Musk’s vision, and everything goes well. It is only a matter of time.
On April 29,Just as everyone speculated whether Musk would show up at the Beijing Auto Show after communicating with the President of the Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Musk ended his trip to China at noon that day. However, before the end of the trip, Reuters broke the news that Zeng Yuqun, chairman of China battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited, appeared in the hotel where Musk stayed.
It is well known that Tesla uses batteries from Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited. However, on April 28th, some media revealed that Musk confirmed that Model 2, an entry-level model with a price of about 182,000 yuan, will be launched in 2025, and the new car will be put into production in the Shanghai factory. At the same time, the price is expected to drop further after it is put into production in the domestic market. This makes us not associate with whether Model 2 will continue to use the battery of "Ningwang", thus achieving a new breakthrough in price. Previously, the price of Model Y equipped with Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited lithium iron phosphate battery has been reduced to 249,900 yuan.
Tesla Spoiler will build the next generation platform of Model 2, which is expected to reduce the cost by 50%, and the weight will be 30% lighter than Model 3, and the battery will be 25% smaller. It will use a new battery that is more powerful, safer and cheaper to store and release more electricity. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited just released the Shenxing PLUS battery at the Beijing Auto Show, which can last for 1000km and 600km after charging for 10 minutes. With the background of top technology in the industry, it is not difficult to meet the needs of Tesla. Relying on China’s supply chain system, battery price is not a problem.
At 13 pm on April 29,Musk’s plane took off from the Capital Airport and returned to the United States in a low-key manner. Compared with the high-profile of the last trip, Musk was particularly low-key and purposeful, targeting only one thing. Although we didn’t see more substantial progress in landing FSD after the last visit to China, this time, we believe that we will see the results soon. What remains unchanged from the last trip is the full schedule of the "old horse" row. I hope that the landing of FSD will be so efficient.
Write at the end:
At present, many China brand car companies in China have practically implemented the urban driver assistance system, but relatively speaking, Tesla, which once led the domestic automatic driver assistance field, has now become a laggard. Due to the delay of FSD landing, Tesla’s advantages are constantly being replaced by China brand.
However, if FSD can really land, it is not necessarily a bad thing, and it may even promote the rapid development of intelligent driving in China, just as Tesla came to China in the past. Today, the smart electric vehicles in China have undergone earth-shaking changes, and the competition in the market economy has brought about benign development. As He Xiaopeng said when talking about Tesla FSD’s entry into China, Tesla has very good autonomous driving technology and brand. Only when more good products and technologies enter, can the whole market and customers have more good experiences and make the market more like benign development and accelerated running. (Text/car home Qin Chao)
Extended reading: FSD countdown? What does Tesla HW4.0 mean?