disappointed Chinese owners who had said that it fell short of Elon Musk’s promises.
The American electric vehicles manufacturer announced their capabilities in a notification on their app, announcing that those will include automatic lane-changing features, depending on the speed and routes available. The new update also allows electric vehicles to detect traffic lights at intersections and decide whether or not they can turn, mimicking more human capabilities. Even more so, an in-car camera will also be available for better monitoring and driver attention.
It is also worth mentioning that all those features will be available with the “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) but less advanced than what is already available in the US due to insufficient data for training from the Chinese roads and traffic rules.
Full Self-Driving is also a suite of driving-assistance technologies developed with generative artificial intelligence to cope with more complex traffic conditions, whereas the Autopilot mode handles more routine conditions.
Even more so, Musk also mentioned that he is in the process of bringing full Autopilot and FSD systems to China, yet he also mentioned that the whole process is trickier due to technology restrictions imposed by the U.S. and the Chinese government.
Lu Panam, a Tesla car owner from the eastern Zhejiang province, said that he paid 56,000 yuan ($7,720) for FSD software when he bought the Long Range Model 3 in 2019, yet the lack of updates made him frustrated over time. “We can tell Tesla has no choice but to deliver a knowingly restricted system ...," said Lu. "It is hard for Tesla to catch up with the smart-driving capabilities in Chinese cars, which even makes less sense given its high pricing.".
Furthermore, the delays in the FSD updates left Tesla behind its other EV competitors, such as BYD, Huawei, and Xiaomi, reported Reuters.
