According to Caixin News Agency, Tesla China responded to reporters today that the news of discussing two rounds of FSD authorization with SAIC is not true and has not communicated with domestic car companies. The day before, there were rumors in the market that Tesla's Full Self Driving (FSD) would authorize SAIC to do Robotaxi after entering China. Tesla had already communicated with SAIC for two rounds, and Geely had also communicated, but the final conclusion and details have not been clarified yet.
Since the beginning of this year, there have been continuous reports that Tesla FSD will soon land in the Chinese market. Regarding this, multiple informed sources have revealed to China Daily that the Chinese government supports the trial of some FSD functions while complying with existing laws and regulations. However, the entry of FSD into China has not yet been approved by regulatory authorities, and related evaluation work is still in progress. Musk once applied to relevant departments to obtain some video data for system training, and promised that these data could be submitted to relevant departments for strict review.
In early September, Tesla's AI team released a product roadmap, in which it is expected to launch fully autonomous driving (FSD) in China and Europe in the first quarter of 2025, but regulatory approval is still pending. Regarding this timeline, informed sources have stated that "progress is not that fast". Currently, relevant work is still in the evaluation stage, and relevant departments are intensively conducting comprehensive research and in-depth analysis on multiple aspects such as autonomous driving technology, data security, laws and regulations, and technical standards.
Experts say that the core issue of whether FSD can be quickly implemented in China mainly lies in how to collect basic geographic information and other data, as well as how to ensure data security and compliance. At present, Tesla entrusts qualified Chinese companies to carry out relevant surveying and mapping activities.
Trump may seek to relax restrictions on autonomous vehicle
Bloomberg reported on November 17 local time that according to insiders, President elect Trump's team plans to "build a federal framework for fully autonomous vehicle" as one of the priorities of the US Department of Transport.
If new regulations make fully autonomous vehicles possible, then Tesla CEO and Trump's huge donor Elon Musk will directly benefit. He is betting Tesla's future on autonomous driving and artificial intelligence technology.
According to reports, Tesla is planning to deploy cars without steering wheels or pedals on a large scale, but current federal regulations pose significant obstacles to this plan.
According to the Associated Press, although the U.S. Department of Transportation can promulgate rules through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to promote the operation of autonomous vehicle, the bill of Congress will pave the way for the large-scale adoption of autonomous vehicle. People familiar with the matter said that a bipartisan legislative measure under discussion would establish federal regulations on autonomous vehicle.
The insider also revealed that the Trump team is looking for suitable candidates to lead the US Department of Transportation to develop a policy framework for regulating autonomous vehicle.
According to informed sources, one of the candidates being considered by Trump as Secretary of Transportation is former Uber executive Emil Michael, who has already spoken with Trump's team and potential staff.
In addition, Missouri Republican Congressman Sam Graves and Louisiana Republican Congressman Garrett Graves are also potential candidates.
In the past few years, efforts to enact federal legislation to regulate autonomous vehicle have been blocked.
At present, NHTSA allows manufacturers to deploy 2500 autonomous vehicle per year with exemptions. Previously, legislative efforts to increase this number to 100000 vehicles have repeatedly failed.
Previously released autonomous taxis
On October 10, 2024 local time, at Tesla's "WE, ROBOT" (We, Robots) launch event, Tesla's Robotaxi - Cybercab - was officially unveiled, along with the unmanned bus Robovan and humanoid robot TeslaBot.
Tesla CEO Musk revealed more details in his subsequent speech. According to Musk, the Tesla Robotaxi unveiled this time is called Cybercab, which has no steering wheel, pedals, or rearview mirrors, and will cost less than $30000. It is expected to be put into production in 2026.
Prior to the press conference, Musk stated that "this will go down in history" and believed that "Robotaxi is worth betting on for Tesla's financial future," with the business "potentially raising Tesla's valuation to $5 trillion.
Musk said that thanks to autonomous driving technology, self driving taxis can reduce the travel costs for users and also lower the operating costs for operators. It is expected that the cost of Cybercab will be less than $30000 (approximately RMB 210000), with transportation costs of about $0.2 per mile, and is expected to be put into production in 2026.
The autonomous bus RoboVan, which debuted simultaneously with Cybercab, can carry up to 20 people and also has no steering wheel or pedals. It is reported that the car will be used in Tesla Network, which is an automatic ride service for autonomous vehicle and personal vehicles of Tesla customers.
Musk believes that the launch of Robotaxi is expected to greatly reduce the cost of taking taxis. The current problem of serious underutilization of private cars will be solved after connecting to Tesla's network, significantly improving vehicle utilization and making consumer spending more cost-effective, "he said.
Regarding the details of autonomous driving technology supporting vehicles, Musk stated that millions of vehicles are currently undergoing training, and the company expects to launch fully autonomous driving (FSD) with unsupervised supervision in Texas and California next year. In 2026, Tesla will scale up Cybercab and promote fully unsupervised FSD autonomous driving capabilities on models such as Model 3.
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