Tesla FSD push suspended, China's smart driving competition intensifies

On March 24, Tesla's customer support official Weibo account issued a statement in the comment section of Tesla Vice President Tao Lin's Weibo, responding to the news of "suspending FSD (Full Self-Driving) push." It explained that software approval corresponding to HW3.0 and HW4.0 hardware needs to be completed, and once ready, it will be pushed to everyone as soon as possible.

Earlier, on March 17, Tesla China announced the launch of a one-month limited experience event for FSD intelligent assisted driving, where eligible vehicles would gradually receive map and software updates. However, the event abruptly ended just seven days after its launch, sparking heated discussions among many car enthusiasts.

Tesla's FSD features automatic lane changing, automatic parking, and traffic light recognition, and has formed a mature solution in North America, providing highly autonomous driving.

Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the Chinese market to Tesla. In 2024, he visited China three times to discuss data security, intelligent driving, and other topics with officials from relevant Chinese government departments. In early 2025, Tesla announced an increase in R&D investment in the Chinese market, focusing on the localization of autonomous driving technology development and testing.

With the launch of the Chinese version of FSD on February 25, the internet sparked a wave of "reviews of the Chinese version of FSD." Many media outlets, institutions, and internet bloggers either self-funded or temporarily rented the newly upgraded Model 3P (all-wheel drive long-range version) with the 64,000 yuan FSD option package to participate in this tasting experience.

Although Tesla's official explanation mentioned that approval is required according to the newly released "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Product Access, Recall, and Software Online Upgrade for Intelligent Connected Vehicles," this also reflects the challenges of implementing global intelligent driving technology in different regulatory environments. However, some industry insiders believe that the functions of FSD launched in the Chinese market have not yet reached the level of fully autonomous driving.

China has the richest traffic scenarios in the world, and Tesla's intelligent driving faces significant challenges. Well-known automotive media person Chen Zhen found that the Chinese version of FSD exhibited seven violations during testing. Various testing videos circulating online also show that the Chinese version of FSD has displayed multiple suspected violations during driving.

The significant buzz generated by the launch of Tesla's FSD has prompted many Chinese automakers to accelerate the announcement of their own intelligent driving system development progress.

On February 26, Li Xiang, CEO of Li Auto, welcomed everyone to compare Li Auto with FSD anywhere in the country; Richard Yu, Executive Director of Huawei, expressed expectations for technological competition in the industry; almost simultaneously, Leapmotor, ZEEKR, and others released their own autonomous driving solutions and disclosed road testing situations.

The Chinese market has always maintained a high level of openness and favor towards intelligent driving, with provinces and cities continuously opening more roads under the premise of ensuring safety, allowing qualified enterprises and models to conduct road tests. At the same time, more and more domestic companies are beginning to incorporate autonomous driving technology to varying degrees According to statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in China is expected to reach 12.866 million units in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 35.5%. Among them, the proportion of models with advanced autonomous driving capabilities shows a steady upward trend year by year.

At the same time, intelligent driving functions are becoming a focal point for Chinese car manufacturers to innovate. The pricing strategy of "more features without increasing prices" is seen as a continuation and upgrade of the price war in the Chinese market over the years.

The domestically produced BYD "God's Eye" intelligent driving solution has been made available for models priced at 70,000 yuan; Huawei's ADS 3.0 achieves higher safety through laser radar and visual fusion; XPeng's XNGP (full-scene intelligent assisted driving) has achieved complex urban road condition assistance without high-precision maps; on March 10, Leapmotor launched the B10 model, bringing high-level intelligent driving with laser radar hardware down to the 120,000 yuan product range.

For Tesla investors, FSD and the software fees behind it are seen as important growth points for Tesla's future business. China is a consumer market rich in intelligent driving scenarios and has a high level of consumer acceptance, which makes the implementation of FSD even more significant.

As of the close on March 21, Tesla's stock price had fallen about 48% from its historical high of $479.86 per share in December 2024. According to Tesla's 2024 annual report, automotive business revenue was $77.07 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 6%; net profit was $7.091 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 53%, while R&D investment in FSD continued to rise. If profits cannot be improved through software services, the "price-for-volume" strategy may affect brand premium ability and further weaken its market competitiveness.

As of the evening of March 24, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) closed at $278.39 per share, up 11.93%. Optimists view Tesla's official statement as a sign that Tesla's FSD is about to officially and massively enter the Chinese market.

In the future, as the policy environment gradually clarifies, whether Tesla can solidify its position in the Chinese intelligent driving market will depend on accelerating technology localization, strengthening data compliance, and maintaining innovation advantages in an increasingly competitive market.

In response to Tesla's FSD entering China, an executive from a Chinese automotive company analyzed to Caijing that China's complex traffic environment is a natural testing ground for local companies, while Tesla still needs to re-accumulate data. Given the current intense competition in domestic intelligent driving, it may lead to a price reduction for Tesla's FSD.

Author of this article: Jiang Yutong, Li Xiyin, Source: [Caijing Magazine](https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5NDU5NTM4MQ==&mid=2653687676&idx=1&sn=41ddb2cf2c93c30a5a467e88d4e5701f&chksm=bcbf39d01770b3f0252d05905fef563779997e4dac3ae0a84ecd5df96f69c20cc99f5f5f0848&mpshare=1&scene=23&srcid=0325ELWF5TWP4E4rdcTm2NBT&sharer_shareinfo=c2c0fb7f54ede43405afabb97a88a1c9&sharer_sha reinfo_first=c2c0fb7f54ede43405afabb97a88a1c9#rd), Original title: "Tesla FSD Push Suspended, China's Smart Driving Competition Intensifies"

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