In the past few days, Tesla has once again become the focus.
On April 28, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suddenly flew to Beijing. In just 23 hours of travel, Musk can be called a "master of time management".
He met non-stop with a number of senior officials and communicated with Zeng Yuqun, the chairman of CATL. With the release of a series of blockbuster news, it seems to indicate that Tesla is about to make a "big move" in China.
Sure enough, on the day of Mascar's visit to China, Chinese regulators released good news: Tesla China has passed the security audit of national car data (covering face information outside the car, no collection of cockpit data by default, in-vehicle processing of cockpit data, and significant notification of personal information).
This means that Tesla has entered the "white list".
This move is conducive to the lifting of access restrictions on Tesla's car series, and more importantly, Tesla's "housekeeping skill" - FSD system (full automatic driving system), is expected to be implemented in China.
In view of the process of the FSD system entering China, a reporter verified with Tesla China. A person from the company told reporters that "it is difficult to say the specific time when FSD will land in China", but he also said, "But we estimate it soon."
It seems that everything is going in a better direction, and the capital markets have shown their attitude.
Before the U.S. stock market opened on April 29, Tesla's stock price rose nearly 6%, and its market value increased by $82.2 billion (about 595.4 billion yuan). Since the beginning of this year, Tesla's stock price has fallen by nearly a third.
However, the author believes that data security compliance is only the first step, and it will indeed take time for Tesla's FSD system to be implemented in China, for example, there are two problems that need to be solved urgently.
First, localized training of AI algorithms.
The road conditions in China are very different from those in the United States, for example, the two-wheeled battery cars running around are "local specialties" of the mainland. If the previous algorithm is forced over, the actual performance of Tesla's FSD system is likely to be lost.
Building a team, getting data, and training AI can't be done in a short period of time. What's more, the use of Chinese data to train foreign AI is the first in the industry, and it is currently in a regulatory blind spot, and whether it is compliant remains to be investigated.
Second, the high price of software.
Although Tesla's FSD system cannot be used in China, it can actually be purchased all the time, with a price tag of 64,000 yuan, which is actually on the high side.
The purchase cost of high-end intelligent driving systems in domestic counterparts is about 2-30,000 yuan (such as Xiaopeng, Wenjie and other manufacturers). Everyone is at the same "L2+" level, why is your Tesla twice as expensive?
The lack of user data will in turn affect the iteration of AI algorithms and the improvement of software experience. Therefore, Tesla's FSD system needs a more competitive price.
Of course, Musk's focus this time is not only on the new energy vehicle sector, but also on the prospect planning of other fields.
As Tesla China's official Weibo Weibo: "(Tesla) will continue to work hard in China, develop together with the industry in artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, energy storage and other fields, accelerate the implementation of clean energy and autonomous driving technology, and turn a beautiful vision into reality." ”
As a model project of China's opening up, Tesla's Chinese market is likely to receive more policy support and resource tilt.
For Tesla CEO Elon Musk, after experiencing a series of operational difficulties such as declining sales, plummeting stock prices, and large-scale layoffs, he also needs to find new business growth points.
Perhaps after the 23-hour interview, the follow-up story will be even more exciting.