In the electric car giantOn the occasion of betting on autonomous driving technology, the company’s CEO Musk is setting off a round of "executive reshuffle" on a global scale. The First Financial Reporter learned from many sources that the important direction of this round of business restructuring is to promote the landing of its self-driving technology FSD software, including its development in China.
Global layoffs, All in autopilot
After Musk ended his whirlwind trip to China, he stepped up global layoffs. Just earlier this month, Musk announced the abolition of the entire super charging department. According to media statistics, recentlyOn average, an executive leaves every three days.
At the same time, it is actively promoting the global landing of FSD, and how to promote FSD in China market is also the main topic of Musk’s recent trip to China.
According to a report quoted by the China Journal on May 8th, Musk proposed an advanced driver assistance scheme to be tested in China during his recent visit to China, and deployed it on a self-driving taxi. According to the report, China officials told Musk China that Tesla was "welcome to test self-driving taxis" and hoped that it would "set a good example".
Up to now, China authorities have not approved the use of Tesla’s FSD function, although China users can purchase FSD software. At present, China car owners can use Tesla’s assisted driving Autopilot function, which can be turned on on the highway. FSD is a more autonomous driving assistance function, which can be used in urban public roads, including automatic parking, automatic lane change and traffic navigation.
Many Tesla owners told the First Financial Reporter that they were very much looking forward to the launch of FSD in China. "Because this will allow drivers to gradually liberate their hands." A car owner who has purchased FSD software told the First Financial Reporter.
Robotaxi has developed in China for many years, but it has made little progress. In the early years, many enterprises engaged in Robotaxi business have exhausted their cash flow, and some have switched from L4-level automatic driving to L2-level assisted driving to obtain certain income. The whole industry is going through a difficult period in China.
According to the incomplete combing of the First Financial Reporter, Xiaoma Zhixing, Wen Yuan Zhixing, Yuanrong Qixing, AutoX, Canoe, Didi and.They all claim to develop Robotaxi, but most of them have been transformed at present, and there are very few major players.
Open road test FSD still has challenges.
Globally, only China and the United States have opened the open road test of autonomous driving, but there are still strict restrictions. Xiao Jianxiong, founder and CEO of AutoX, a self-driving technology company, suggested that China should, like the United States, allow the "iron brand car" with self-driving ability to start when it enters the L4 self-driving area as soon as possible..
The latest progress comes from Hangzhou. On May 1st, the Regulations of Hangzhou Municipality on Promoting the Testing and Application of Intelligent Networked Vehicles was officially implemented, and the main central city of Hangzhou was used as the testing and application area of intelligent networked vehicles. Hangzhou has also become the first city in China to clarify the specific process of self-driving vehicles on the road by local legislation except special economic zones, and it is also the first city in China to legislate for low-speed unmanned vehicles.
According to the first financial reporter, at present, in China’s big cities, autonomous driving in Beijing and Shanghai can only be carried out on the outskirts of the central city; Only 5% of the downtown area of Guangzhou is open to autonomous driving.
"To encourage the development of autonomous driving technology, it is most basic to allow vehicles to test on open roads." He told the First Financial Reporter, "We hope Tesla can push more cities in China to open their roads to test autonomous driving." It is reported that Tesla is currently seeking to apply to start the Robotaxi test in Shanghai. Tesla did not respond to this. Before the full launch of FSD, Tesla still needs the approval of the regulatory authorities in China to collect and transmit the data needed for Tesla’s vehicle training and driving assistance function.
According to another news, Tesla has reached an agreement with. Although the two parties did not disclose the details of the transaction, they are not sure what the agreement has to do with Tesla FSD, but if Tesla can use the map, it at least means that the accuracy of Tesla map will be expected to be improved.
In this regard, a senior industry insider told the First Financial Reporter that Tesla FSD needs navigation maps. Tesla has no map mapping qualification and needs to cooperate with qualified map merchants. Gaode, Baidu and Tencent all have the ability to provide navigation maps needed by Tesla.
When referring to the challenges that Tesla’s self-driving FSD may encounter when it is fully launched in China, the above-mentioned insiders told the First Financial Reporter: "Tesla’s self-driving model training is deployed in North America, and if the perceived data obtained in China cannot be sent back to the United States for training input, it is necessary to deploy the training environment in China."
This person believes that there are two solutions to solve these problems. "Either the China government allows Tesla’s data collected in China to leave the country; Either the US government agrees that Musk will deploy large-scale AI computing power in China. " He said, "Both options are challenging."
He also said that another important issue is that at present, the Traffic Management Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security of China has not expressed its position on the new traffic law enforcement challenges that Tesla FSD may bring.
Musk previously said that Tesla will release Robotaxi on August 8 this year. He has publicly predicted the future mode of travel, that is, taxis may eventually become a more common mode of transportation than human driving cars. He also said that Tesla will have no value if it does not achieve full automatic driving ability.
As of press time, Tesla’s share price has fallen by nearly 30% so far this year.
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