Tesla FSD Officially Launched in China

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature is officially launched in the Chinese market, expanding from its previous availability only in North America. Early users in China have reported that the FSD feature performs well in local driving conditions, demonstrating adaptability to Chinese traffic regulations and road conditions.

In response to user feedback on platform X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk stated that the company had trained the FSD system using publicly available videos of Chinese roads and traffic signs. This innovative use of video simulation environments allowed the FSD system to quickly adapt to Chinese road signs and traffic regulations. This method not only significantly improved training efficiency but also enabled the FSD system to better adapt to different regional driving environments.

On February 25, Tesla China’s WeChat mini-program began to roll out the 2024.45.32.12 software update to customers in batches. The main upgrade in this software update is the “Autopilot assisted driving on urban roads.”

According to Tesla, after the update, vehicles will use Autopilot assisted driving on controlled-access highways (main roads that users enter and exit via ramps) and urban roads. The system will guide the vehicle to exit ramps and intersections according to the navigation route, recognize traffic signals at intersections, and automatically change lanes based on speed and route. Without a set navigation route, the system will choose the optimal road to drive on based on actual road conditions.

Tesla has been actively preparing for the introduction of FSD in China. Training for intelligent driving features requires massive amounts of data. Since Tesla does not have map surveying qualifications, it has collaborated with Baidu Maps since 2014 to provide basic map services. In 2021, Tesla established the Tesla Shanghai Data Center to enable localized data storage. After road data is processed in the vehicle, only de-identified feature vectors are transmitted to local servers.

According to the update notes, this feature requires vehicles to be equipped with HW4.0 assisted driving hardware, which is available in Model Y/3 manufactured after February 2024, and the new Model S/X. The range of compatible models will be gradually expanded in the future.

However, some insiders in the intelligent driving industry have told the media that the subscription purchase cost of over 60,000 yuan for FSD may be difficult for most Chinese consumers, who are accustomed to free software, to accept. Therefore, FSD may not significantly boost sales in the short term.

At the same time, Tesla faces competition from domestic intelligent driving technologies in the Chinese market. This year, various automakers have increased their investments in advanced intelligent driving, with many companies launching L2-level intelligent driving systems comparable to FSD, and some beginning to develop L3-level autonomous driving technologies.

According to a research report from CITIC Securities, it is estimated that by 2025, the domestic penetration rates of urban NOA (Navigation on Autopilot) and highway NOA will reach 14% and 30%, respectively.”

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