Tesla Inc., the California-based automaker, is set to unveil its highly anticipated Full Self-Driving (FSD) system in China by the first quarter of 2025, according to a recent announcement by the company’s AI team. This development has been eagerly awaited by the industry, as it marks a significant expansion of Tesla’s autonomous driving capabilities in the world’s largest automotive market.
The FSD system, which has been a cornerstone of Tesla’s technological advancements, represents a major leap forward in the field of autonomous driving. With its entry into the Chinese market, Tesla aims to further solidify its position as a leader in the industry.
According to a report by TechWeb, the Tesla AI team revealed the official timeline for the FSD system’s launch in China and Europe during a media briefing. The company has already submitted regulatory applications for the system in both regions and is awaiting approval. Tesla China has confirmed the authenticity of the report, indicating that the launch is indeed imminent.
Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO, had previously mentioned during the company’s Q2 2024 earnings call that Tesla would seek regulatory approval for supervised full autonomous driving in Europe and China, with an expectation of receiving approval by the end of the year. However, it appears that the timeline for FSD’s entry into China has been slightly delayed.
The FSD system is expected to bring significant improvements to Tesla’s vehicles in China. The company has announced plans to roll out several new features and enhancements, including:
- Improved接管率 (takeover rate) with the V12.5.2 software update, which is set to be released in September.
- Integration with the HW3.0 platform and unification with the 4.0 platform.
- Introduction of the True Summon feature, which allows vehicles to navigate complex parking scenarios.
- Autonomous parking capabilities for the Cybertruck.
- Attention detection support for wearing sunglasses.
- A unified technology stack for both high-speed and urban driving, based on end-to-end approaches.
Tesla’s commitment to advancing autonomous driving technology is evident in its significant investment in AI computing power. As of the second quarter of 2024, Tesla’s in-house supercomputing center boasts over 40,000 H100 equivalent NVIDIA GPUs. The company expects this figure to rise to nearly 90,000 by the end of the year.
In terms of data, Musk has stated that FSD requires testing over 6 billion miles to meet global regulatory requirements. As of the second quarter, FSD has accumulated over 1.6 billion miles of test driving, with the company confident of achieving unsupervised L5-level autonomy by next year.
The introduction of FSD in China is likely to ignite a fierce competition in the domestic autonomous driving market. Local automakers such as Ideal, Huawei, and Xpeng have been actively investing in autonomous driving technology, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the industry.
The potential impact of FSD in China cannot be overstated. With its advanced capabilities and extensive testing, Tesla’s FSD system has the potential to revolutionize the way people drive and interact with their vehicles. As the company continues to expand its presence in China, the future of autonomous driving in the world’s most populous country looks promising.
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