China’s electric vehicle sector may be extremely competitive, but it seems that even rivals can be excited for the arrival of new technologies in the market. This was highlighted by Xpeng CEO and Chairman He Xiaopeng, who noted in a post on Weibo that he is personally welcoming Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) to the country.
In his post, the executive noted that if the last decade was a time for new energy vehicles, the new decade would be a decade of smart vehicles. This means that in the coming years, advanced driver-assist systems and perhaps even autonomous driving technologies could become mainstream in China.
Following is the Xpeng CEO’s post on about FSD.
“Today, many friends asked me what I think about FSD entering China. I especially welcome Tesla FSD to enter China.
“If the last 10 years were the decade of new energy, the new decade will be the decade of smart cars. The booming development of large models in the past two years has significantly accelerated the technology and experience of high-end autonomous driving and driverless driving. Combined with our own progress, I believe that large models will accelerate the implementation of autonomous driving in at least three years. Fully autonomous driving is also one of the best business scenarios for the implementation of large models.
“Tesla has very good self-driving technology and brand. Only when more good products and technologies enter can the entire market and customers have more good experiences, and the market develop and accelerate in a more healthy direction. Moreover, China is now vigorously promoting openness + new quality productivity. I think whether it is Tesla’s FSD, Xpeng’s NGP, or friends’ NOA, these are one of the representatives of new quality productivity and should be supported to let a hundred flowers bloom,” the Xpeng CEO wrote.
Amidst news of Elon Musk’s visit to Beijing this past weekend, reports emerged stating that Tesla had secured a deal with Baidu for navigation and mapping data. Tesla also cleared data security and processing requirements in China, as per the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers. These developments suggested that FSD may be coming to China in the near future.
Tesla China, for its part, has only noted that “there is currently no timetable for FSD to enter China.” As noted in a CNEV Post report, however, industry watchers have observed that Tesla’s FSD purchase page in China has received a rather subtle update. Unlike before, when the advanced driver-assist suite was listed as “Coming Later,” FSD has now been updated to “Coming Soon.”
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