Tesla FSD is going to enter China, and Huawei will have to guard the "national border"?

China Smart Car The turning point of the era is coming.

From electrification to intelligence , China's new energy vehicles have always been at the forefront of the world.

But with Tesla in the lead, no car company dares to say that it has crushed this "catfish" in all aspects; even if they dare to say so, it is basically bragging.

The data does not lie. As a car company focusing on pure electric vehicles, Tesla's sales are second to none. In 2023, Tesla produced a total of about 1.85 million electric vehicles worldwide and delivered about 1.81 million vehicles, an increase of about 35% and 38% year-on-year respectively.

In comparison, the performance of China's new car-making forces in 2023 are:

Ideal Auto will deliver 379,000 vehicles in 2023; NIO will deliver 160,038 vehicles in 2023; Leapmotor will deliver 144,155 vehicles in 2023; Xpeng Motors will deliver 141,601 vehicles in 2023...

It is no exaggeration to say that even if all of them are added together, they are not enough to compete with Tesla alone. Today, the wind of the times is blowing again, FSD has entered China, and Tesla is about to "break into" the Chinese market. Faced with such a powerful opponent, who can compete?

The storm is coming. According to Reuters, Tesla has successfully obtained software registration from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, further paving the way for Tesla's internal testing of full self-driving (FSD).

Tesla employees are said to be conducting intensive tests on public roads in China and plan to push upgrades to Chinese users within a few months.

It is also worth noting that Tesla may provide FSD services to Chinese consumers on a monthly subscription basis at US$98 per month, totaling RMB 8,500 per year.

Tesla FSD's entry into China is basically a done deal. Faced with the storm of layoffs and sluggish sales since 2024, Tesla is in urgent need of a victory to re-establish its leading position.

One attack and one defense, offense and defense are easy to change. That's right, the key match point for China's smart cars has arrived.

01. Chinese car companies are ready to fight

Chinese car companies are not without any chance of winning; even if they are facing the "big devil" Tesla, Chinese car companies will definitely fight at all costs.

Today, the Chinese market has become the world's largest new energy vehicle market, and it is the most suitable place for the development of smart cars.

On the one hand, the accumulation of technology and the maturity of electrification technologies such as the 800V platform have helped intelligence take root in the automotive industry; on the other hand, Chinese consumers' ability to adapt to intelligence and their level of education are undoubtedly "far ahead."

Against this backdrop, China's new energy vehicle market is "intensifying," and the gap between Chinese automakers and Tesla is slowly narrowing.

It is worth noting that Tesla’s two main selling models, Model 3 and Model Y, are both models from a long time ago, while China’s “latest” new energy vehicles are constantly emerging: Xiaomi SU7, Ledao L60, Avita 07…

Is the situation all good? No, there are changes.

We do need to "despise" Tesla strategically, but we need to pay special attention to it tactically. Especially now that Tesla FSD has entered China, the return of the full-blooded Tesla has brought more uncertainty to the Chinese auto market.

As a "defense", in the minds of consumers, Huawei must be the first choice . Then when it comes to car companies, it is the Huawei series of new energy vehicles composed of Wenjie, Avita, and Zhijie.

Only Huawei? Of course not.

Not long ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's website released a notice on "Four departments orderly carrying out the pilot program for the access and road access of intelligent connected vehicles ", announcing the first nine intelligent connected vehicle access and road access pilot consortiums. In simple terms, these nine companies can have higher-level intelligent driving on the road.

These include: BYD , NIO, Changan, GAC, SAIC, BAIC Blue Valley, FAW, SAIC Hongyan, and Yutong Bus.

It is obvious that China is promoting the arrival of the era of smart cars in China from top to bottom. The issuance of this notice not only marks the improvement of my country's L3/L4 advanced intelligent driving policies and regulations, but also means that these car companies may become the mainstay of "fighting" Tesla FSD.

Electrification is the first half, and intelligence is the second half.

At present, the intelligent driving competition among major domestic automakers has already sparked a spark. Huawei has launched the pilot assisted driving function that can be driven nationwide. Ideal Auto, Xiaomi Auto, Weilai Auto, Xiaopeng Auto, etc. have all turned to light map or no map solutions. End-to-end The big model is looming...

It is impossible for Tesla FSD to be "far ahead" just when it first arrives. What's more, in today's Chinese automobile market, in addition to car companies "competing for the lead", there are also many excellent intelligent driving suppliers who are ready to go.

02. It’s not just the car companies that are ready to fight

The latest news is that Mercedes-Benz has dumped Nvidia and joined hands with Momenta. It is said that the Mercedes-Benz pure electric CLA model will be equipped with a high-end intelligent driving solution provided by Momenta that does not rely on high-precision maps to achieve urban navigation assisted driving functions, and is scheduled to go into production in April 2025.

Previously, Mercedes-Benz was working with Nvidia on a smart driving project, including a full stack of software and hardware . Last year, Nvidia quickly hired Wu Xinzhou from Xiaopeng to “put out the fire” of the cooperation project.

But now it seems that Momenta has defeated the "giant" Nvidia and won the favor of Mercedes-Benz.

In other words, China's intelligent driving companies are not weak.

When asked about his views on the "Tesla FSD entering China", Yu Qian, co-founder and CEO of Qingzhou Zhihang, said:

"In the past, Tesla's entry into China has driven the development of new energy vehicles and promoted the electrification process. The introduction of Tesla FSD into China will also further promote the development of China's new energy vehicle industry and strongly promote China's urban NOA process, including the user's concept level, the promotion of relevant laws and regulations, and the promotion of technological development and commercialization of upstream and downstream companies in the industry."

It is conceivable that the era of smart cars in China is getting closer and closer, and the arrival of Tesla FSD will fully play the role of a catalyst to accelerate this process. At the same time, Yu Qian also added about the end-to-end large model technology route:

"One of the major difficulties of end-to-end is that a large amount of data is required. We agree with what Musk said, '6 billion kilometers is the key node for the qualitative change of FSD.' From the perspective of sales, at least hundreds of thousands of cars equipped with NOA must be sold before the intelligent driving system can reach a certain level. It is actually unlikely for any domestic supplier to do it on its own. It must be deeply bound with customers to achieve it."

Simply put, after actual market testing, Tesla FSD is mature enough, so the focus after "entering China" will be on the "generalization" of FSD based on the Chinese traffic environment.

Zhou Guang, founder and CEO of Yuanrong Qixing, is also eager to try Tesla's FSD in China:

"I think the introduction of Tesla's FSD into China is a good thing. It will let everyone see what real intelligent driving is and what intelligent driving with a human touch is. This will benefit technologically advanced companies like us. There is a difference between having intelligent driving and having good intelligent driving."

Zhou Guang was very confident, but also very sober:

"After FSD enters China, it may continue to be a catfish that stirs up China's intelligent driving market. Major OEMs will be more eager to promote the installation of high-end intelligent driving systems in vehicles, which is a very good opportunity for companies with technological advantages."

Everyone is ready to have a big fight with Tesla. If you feel anxious or panic about Tesla's FSD entering China, there is really no need to do so.

It is also not difficult to foresee that if Tesla FSD enters the Chinese market and still adopts the "subscription system", it will most likely not be accepted by a wider consumer group. After all, many excellent intelligent driving solutions in China are given away or free of charge.

As far as the current new energy vehicle market in China is concerned, low-level intelligent driving has basically become standard, and major automakers have been leveraging high-level intelligent driving functions to achieve brand premium and product power stacking in order to gain more favor and choice from consumers.

This is the best era for smart driving. We have sufficient market space and soil to help the growth of the smart driving industry.

This is the worst era for intelligent driving. If we are not sober enough and allow the abuse of intelligence and its unrestrained and rampant growth, the entire industry will be destroyed in an instant.

Regardless, we still look forward to the arrival of China's smart car era. Although the road ahead is difficult, the future will surely be bright and dazzling enough.