Musk's brief visit to China has sparked widespread news that Tesla's Full Self Driving (FSD) technology will enter the Chinese market.
Affected by this news, on April 29th local time, Tesla rose by over 15%, with its market value skyrocketing overnight by over 82 billion US dollars (approximately 590 billion yuan)
The Tesla user app shows that the purchase page description of Tesla China's official FSD service has been changed from "to be launched soon".
It is understood that the autonomous driving experience of FSD Beta includes more precise lane keeping and lane changing functions, more intelligent traffic signals and parking recognition, more efficient path planning and navigation.
However, the news that FSD is about to adapt to the Chinese market is not unfounded.
On April 22nd, Baidu held a press conference, during which Baidu Vice President Shang Guobin stated that Baidu had reached a cooperation agreement with Tesla. Baidu Map Lane Level Navigation was about to launch globally at Tesla, creating a more real-time, accurate, safe, and efficient navigation experience for car owners. However, Tesla FSD function was not mentioned at the time.
Before Musk's visit to China, "Tesla had passed all four national requirements for automotive data security, and various regions had gradually lifted restrictions on parking, driving, and other vehicles."
According to Zhang Jianye, a senior expert in the industry, Tesla FSD needs the Chinese market, and China also needs the implementation of fully autonomous driving technology.
There are three reasons. One is that the market is large enough. China is the world's largest automobile market, producing and selling over 20 million vehicles annually. China's electric vehicle sales account for approximately 60% of the global market share and are a key market for electric vehicle manufacturers, especially Tesla.
Secondly, China's technology adoption rate is much higher than other countries. A survey shows that 60% of Chinese consumers are willing to use autonomous vehicle, while the global proportion is only 30%.
Thirdly, China's urban roads are dense and congestion is severe. It is expected that the urban population in China will grow to 1.1 billion by 2040, so the demand for efficient transportation solutions will be higher. FSD is expected to become a very valuable choice.