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Preamble:
On April 26, 2024, Blinken's second visit to China ended, and this visit to China did not achieve the purpose he wanted, and on the afternoon of the 26th, Brink got on the plane leaving.
However, less than 24 hours after leaving Beijing, at midnight, at an airport in California, a private jet belonging to Tesla CEO Elon Musk quietly set off, targeting Beijing, China.
On the day Musk's plane landed, the mainland released a report at the same time, which may help Tesla.
So, what does Musk want to do in China this time?
The purpose and timing of the visit
On the 28th, Musk arrived in Beijing, and at 7 o'clock that night, he appeared on the CCTV report.
That night, Musk posted on social platforms, hoping to continue to work in China and promote a fully driverless system (FSD). According to foreign media reports, Musk also hopes to seek the possibility of transferring local car riding data in China to help train the functions of self-driving software.
Information source: Global Network-Musk suddenly came to China after postponing his visit to India for a few days, and Indian media paid attention (2024.4.29)
These two pieces of news are not simple, if Musk can be willing to calm down and come to the Chinese market to promote and help realize the implementation of autonomous driving technology.
That's all well and good, but the driving data of the car to train it to drive itself is so important that it can't be taken away for such a reason.
And Musk stepped on the critical period when TikTok was being fought over by the United States for ownership, which has other implications.
As early as 2021, forced by China's information security rules, Musk had stored the data collected by Tesla in the Chinese local market in a data center in Shanghai as required, and did not bring it back to the United States.
Now Musk's intention is to use the training software to take away the data, and the path must be extremely difficult to achieve.
You must know that data security has always been a great concern for the mainland, and it is very difficult to easily obtain local data, but what is surprising is that at the moment of Musk's visit to China, the report released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed another meaning.
Information source: Jiemian News-Tesla Passes Car Data Security Requirements, Musk's Sudden Visit to China or Accelerates the Implementation of Autonomous Driving (2024.4.29)
The vehicle inspection report is full of meaning
China has always been Tesla's second largest market, with 1.7 million cars produced and sold by Tesla's factories across the country.
If this traffic data were to be transferred abroad, it would inevitably reveal a lot of detailed information about China.
However, with the announcement of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers on the 28th on the inspection of safety requirements for automobile processing, Tesla's follow-up actions will gradually lift the restrictions.
According to the report, it is worth noting that Tesla has become the only foreign-funded car company that has passed the test by requiring the anonymization of facial information outside the car and the detection of sensitive information such as processing personal information.
This announcement is not only a friendly attitude to Musk, but also a catfish for Tesla to become a catfish in China's intelligent driving car market again, driving local car companies to rejuvenate themselves.
And with the official announcement, a message worthy of relief for Tesla owners has also emerged: all provinces and cities will gradually lift the ban on Tesla.
With the gradual easing of Sino-US relations, it is believed that there will be more foreign car companies in the local market in China, which is not only a competition, but also an opportunity to jointly promote the implementation of domestic autonomous driving technology and create a win-win situation for the first echelon of domestic intelligent driving enterprises such as Ideal, Xiaopeng and Wenjie.
Data security is the key to the implementation of FSD
Musk is so anxious to enter FSD, or because Tesla's stock price continues to be sluggish, in 2024, after Tesla announced its first-quarter financial report, it will continue the decline in 2022, with revenue and net profit showing a year-on-year downward trend.
In order to expand the influence of FSD, Musk's recent actions are very frequent, not only lowering the subscription price of FSD, but also significantly reducing the price of FSD's package, from the original $12,000 to $8,000, which shows Tesla's internal anxiety about FSD growth.
But at the same time, as Tesla's second largest market in China, the FSD function has not been listed in the Chinese market so far, looking at other domestic cars such as Xiaopeng, Wenjie and other car companies have begun to make efforts in autonomous driving, and continue to make breakthroughs one after another, such a development is the last thing Musk wants to see.
In the promotional materials of many domestic car companies, since Tesla's autonomous driving has not yet been launched in China, when comparing with Tesla, the use of automatic driving functions in domestic vehicles has become one of the advantages.
However, this may change.
On April 20, a netizen asked Tesla when it would launch FSD in the Chinese market. Musk's reply was very positive: "It may happen soon". Such news is undoubtedly exciting for Tesla as a company.
Today's Tesla's financial report is declining, sales growth is not up to expectations, FSD has become the last big treasure Musk bet on, only it can save Tesla's decline and bring more and longer growth cycles for Tesla.
Information source: Beijing News-Musk's lightning visit to China: Tesla gets a "green card" for data security, how far is FSD going to enter China(2024.4.29)
epilogue
With the continuous development of autonomous driving, data security is bound to pay special attention, and Musk, as a benchmark linking Chinese and foreign automotive industries, must recognize his identity in time and do what he should do.
is as strong as Musk, and he will not forget that after losing the support of China's unique characteristics, it is difficult to explore the market, and even fall out of the position of the world's richest man.
The next five years will be an opportunity for the development of a market economy after the easing of Sino-US relations. It is also an opportunity for Musk to calm down and fully embrace the Chinese market. Whether we can seize this opportunity to successfully land autonomous driving technology in the Chinese market, we are also very much looking forward to the arrival of that day.