"Collected in China, processed in China"? Tesla was revealed to be building a self-driving data center in China

Observer.com

2024-05-18 14:28Posted on the official account of Shanghai Observer.com

According to a Reuters report on May 17, a number of people familiar with the matter revealed that in order to promote the global deployment plan of the "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) system, Tesla plans to collect data in China and establish data centers in China to process data and train algorithms for autonomous driving technology. This is part of a strategic shift on the part of Musk, who has insisted on moving data collected in China to be processed overseas, people familiar with the matter said.

It's unclear exactly how Tesla will handle autonomous driving data from China, whether it will use both data transmission and local data centers, or whether it will treat both approaches as a parallel plan as a hedge.

Two of the sources said that to build a data center in China for the development of FSD technology, Tesla will need to work with a Chinese partner. In addition, Tesla will face a potential hardware procurement challenge.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Tesla has been in talks with the American chip giant Nvidia, and the two sides are discussing the purchase of graphics processors for Chinese data centers. However, due to U.S. sanctions, Nvidia has been banned from selling its state-of-the-art chips in China.

Tesla and Intel have not yet responded to the report.

Tesla FSD system (data map)

On April 28, Musk arrived in Beijing and began a visit to China in less than 24 hours, attracting the world's attention.

According to the sources, in a meeting with Chinese officials, Musk tried to pave the way for Tesla's data transfer license and to some extent increase the likelihood that Tesla will build a data center in China. Musk also discussed the possibility of Tesla licensing its FSD system to Chinese electric car makers in the future, one of the people said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing on April 28, picture from @玉元潭天

Bloomberg has reported that, to some extent, Musk's visit to China is a return to the "safe harbor". China is Tesla's second largest market, and Tesla is so popular in China that it is the first international automaker to operate in China without having to form a joint venture with a local manufacturer.

According to the report, Musk's visit to China highlights Tesla's sense of urgency to get back on track. Tesla is grappling with weak demand and increased competition, and if the FSD software is approved in China, it could help the company regain some market share. At present, Tesla's competitors in China, such as Xpeng Motors, are also launching similar autonomous driving products to gain an advantage over Tesla.

The people told Reuters that until then, Tesla had been working to launch and get approval for its FSD software in China and transfer the data it collected in China abroad to train algorithms for its self-driving technology. Some experts say that China has complex traffic conditions, with more pedestrians and cyclists than in many other markets, which provides more scenarios for faster training of self-driving algorithms.

In 2021, Tesla launched a beta version of FSD, but the feature has not yet been launched in China. According to Reuters, since 2021, Tesla has stored all its data in China in Shanghai in accordance with the requirements of Chinese regulators, and has not transmitted any data back to the United States.

According to China Daily on May 8, recently, the newspaper exclusively learned through multiple sources that Tesla proposed to land "driverless taxis" in China. In this regard, China may first support its domestic testing and demonstration, but has not yet fully approved the full implementation of its FSD in China.

Reuters, citing analysts, said that Musk is trying to make China a launch pad for Tesla's self-driving, just as Tesla bet on the Shanghai Gigafactory in 2019 and finally establish itself as an electric car manufacturer based in the mass market.

Zhang Yu, managing director of Automotive Foresight, a Shanghai-based consulting firm, said: "If Tesla's FSD is implemented in China and uses Chinese data for algorithm training, it will definitely become a milestone. The Chinese market has played a key role in the expansion of EV production at Tesla's Shanghai factory and will once again play an important role in the mass adoption of autonomous driving technology in the future. ”

This article is an exclusive manuscript of Observer.com and may not be reproduced without authorization.

View original image 251K

• 

•