Tesla, as the top new car manufacturer, has become an old friend of the China International Fair for Trade in Services. In 2016, Tesla made its debut at the predecessor of the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), the "Beijing Trade Fair", and the "Tesla Regional Headquarters Settlement Project" became one of the 331 signed projects at that year's CIFTIS. Last year, the refreshed version of Tesla Model 3 made its debut at the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), and this year, the second-generation humanoid robot Optimus and the Cyber Land Cruiser made their debut at the CIFTIS. For 8 consecutive years of participation, the China International Fair for Trade in Services has also witnessed Tesla's growth. If the "Moonlight Silver" Model Y and Cyber SUV on the 2024 Service Trade Fair stage are Tesla's "points", the humanoid robot Optimus and FSD fully autonomous driving capability chip are Tesla's "faces".
Tesla's' new employee 'takes the stage
At the Tesla booth at the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services, humanoid robots attracted visitors to pause. This is Tesla's second-generation humanoid robot Optimus, "said a Tesla booth staff member. The humanoid robot has 28 drive modules and over 200 degrees of freedom, simulating various human motion modes. At the same time, the Optimus hand has 11 degrees of freedom, and the biomimetic joint design gives the robot strong flexibility, allowing it to clearly recognize surrounding objects while completing agile movements. In addition, Optimus adopts a visual perception scheme and neural network technology that is similar to FSD fully autonomous driving technology to complete core functions such as path planning and object recognition.
International investment bank Goldman Sachs predicts that the market size of humanoid robots is expected to reach 154 billion US dollars by 2035. Faced with huge market prospects, humanoid robots are becoming a key battleground for various enterprises. And humanoid robots are also a product that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has always insisted on exploring and a market that must be entered. Tesla officials have revealed that there will be thousands of humanoid robots performing tasks at Tesla factories next year, and in the future, they can also become home assistants.
These humanoid robots will achieve higher levels of autonomous operation, able to directly respond to instructions and perform complex tasks. At the same time, they will also have the ability to learn new skills by observing videos, such as showing a task to the robot, which can be learned and executed by watching videos without traditional programming. "The Tesla related person in charge told Beijing Business Daily reporters that humanoid robots will become the mainstay of industry, and Tesla's goal is to produce 1 billion units annually, occupying more than 10% of the market share.
In addition to Optimus, a HW4.0 chip at Tesla's booth that can simulate the human brain has also become the focus. It is reported that relying on massive driving data, independently developed computing platforms, and powerful computing power, the Tesla FSD fully autonomous driving capability (supervised version) equipped with HW4.0 continues to iterate and upgrade, and has now entered the V12.5 version, which can respond flexibly and accurately to complex road conditions. The safety report released by Tesla for the first quarter of this year shows that Tesla vehicles using Autopilot for autonomous driving have a safety level 11.4 times higher than the US average.
OTA keeps cars evolving
If there is still a long way to go before humanoid robots and fully autonomous driving can be fully implemented, the OTA that keeps cars growing has become an intuitive manifestation of Tesla's improvement in "soft power".
At present, the pace of promoting new energy vehicles in China continues to accelerate, while for Tesla models, some consumers believe that the changes in appearance are not significant. In Tesla's view, compared to changes in appearance, Tesla models are actually constantly growing. One purchase, continuous evolution. "Tesla stated that compared to competing models in the same price range, OTA allows Tesla models to continue evolving, unlocking new features for car owners and achieving" replacement "without changing cars.
Beijing Business Daily reporters learned from the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services that Tesla's OTA remote software upgrade has accumulated nearly a thousand updates in different markets around the world since its first push, such as lane departure warning, driver's cabin overheating protection, and other new features related to vehicle safety, comprehensive entertainment, and practicality.
While continuously promoting the growth of OTA, Tesla has also launched a direct sales service system with remote diagnostic technology as its core, providing 7 × 24-hour service. It is understood that the system has highly intelligent monitoring and diagnostic capabilities, which can continuously monitor the status of vehicles 24 hours a day. Once abnormalities or potential faults are detected, the warning mechanism is immediately activated, and problems are quickly investigated through remote diagnostic technology, providing consumers with timely and accurate solutions. According to Beijing Business Daily reporters, currently over 10% of Tesla's car owner appointment services are solved through remote diagnosis, saving an average of one hour of waiting time for each consumer to arrive at the store.
The attractiveness of the Chinese market lies in its huge consumption base, constantly upgrading consumer demand, and open policy environment. At the same time, the development potential of China's service trade is enormous, especially in emerging fields such as digital economy and green economy. In the view of Tesla officials, the Chinese government's support policies for the new energy vehicle industry and its open attitude towards foreign investment provide strong support for Tesla's development in China.
Megapack is expected to be mass-produced in China next year
In July 2018, Tesla signed an investment agreement for a pure electric vehicle project with the Shanghai Municipal Government and the Shanghai Lingang Management Committee. In November 2019, Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory entered pilot production. It only took 10 months from a vacant land to completion and production; In January 2020, the domestically produced Model 3 began delivery. Data shows that Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory delivered over 80000 new cars in August this year, an increase of 17% compared to the previous month.
In four years, Tesla has taken root and blossomed in the Chinese market. At the 2024 China International Fair for Trade in Services, Tesla will showcase its development plans from the present to the future, covering products, technology, and soft services. As an important part of Tesla's global strategy, the Chinese market plays a crucial role in Tesla's future development. The relevant person in charge of Tesla stated that Tesla will continue to increase investment in the Chinese market, including the construction and production of the Shanghai Energy Storage Super Factory, improving the manufacturing efficiency of the Shanghai Super Factory, continuously increasing the construction of energy replenishment infrastructure, and improving service networks.
In May of this year, Tesla's Shanghai energy storage super factory officially started construction. The relevant person in charge of Tesla mentioned above revealed that the Shanghai Energy Storage Gigafactory will produce a super large commercial electrochemical energy storage system Megapack, which is expected to achieve mass production in the first quarter of next year. Tesla's Shanghai Energy Storage Gigafactory initially plans to have an annual production capacity of 10000 Megapacks and an energy storage scale of nearly 40 gigawatt hours. In the future, we will continue to upgrade and transform our production processes, optimize our manufacturing processes, continuously improve production efficiency, and further reduce manufacturing costs, "he said.
At the same time, Tesla is constantly improving its soft service infrastructure. According to data, as of August this year, Tesla has opened more than 2000 supercharging stations in China, with over 11500 supercharging stations and more than 2400 destination charging stations, covering 100% of all provinces and municipalities in mainland China. In terms of improving service network, as of August this year, Tesla has laid out 520 directly operated stores in mainland China, covering 91 cities.
Tesla continues to invest in research and development resources in cutting-edge fields such as electric vehicles, autonomous driving, artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, and energy storage. It has not only established advanced production and manufacturing bases and research and development centers in China, but also continuously expanded its sales, service, and charging networks, committed to providing high-quality products and services to Chinese consumers. The relevant person in charge of Tesla stated that Tesla will continue to increase its investment in China and deepen its localization strategy.