Tesla has temporarily stopped its Full Self-Driving (FSD) test in China. The originally planned test period from March 17 to April 16 must now be paused as regulatory hurdles need to be overcome. According to Tesla, an official approval is required to further roll out the FSD software.
Background and Reasons for the Pause
The recently introduced regulations by the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) require that software updates in the field of intelligent driving assistance systems be pre-approved before their introduction. Tesla has confirmed in a statement on Chinese social media channels:
“According to the requirements of the latest ‘Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Access, Recall, and Online Software Upgrade of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Products’, our team is working on the approval of the intelligent driving assistance software intended for Hardware 3.0 and 4.0. All parties involved are actively promoting the corresponding process, and as soon as everything is approved, we will promptly provide the update for everyone.”
This official requirement has led to the FSD test in China – which has so far been exclusively running on vehicles with Hardware 4 (HW4) – having to be paused for now.
Expansion of FSD Functionality to Hardware 3
Parallel to the pause, Tesla announces plans to expand FSD functions to vehicles with Hardware 3 (HW3) in the future. Once the necessary approvals are in place, these models will also be included in the FSD test.
So far, FSD was only introduced for vehicles with HW4 in China last month. The planned expansion to HW3 marks an important step to allow more vehicles in China to benefit from the advanced FSD functions.
Outlook
The temporary pause and the planned expansion of FSD functionality show that Tesla continues to work on the continuous improvement and adaptation of its technologies – also in an international context. While Tesla has already conducted extensive FSD tests in the USA and other markets, the company must adapt to the strict regulatory requirements in China.
With the expansion to HW3, once the approvals are in place, Tesla can take another important step towards an even broader implementation of autonomous driving technology. It remains exciting to see how the regulatory processes in China will develop and which new functions will soon come to market.
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