By Jacky Wong
Elon Musk's recent surprise trip to China paid off handsomely.
Beijing's tentative backing for Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" technology kicked off the sharpest one-day percentage gain the stock had seen in more than three years. But it may not necessarily be a smooth ride from here on out.
Tesla will partner with Chinese search giant Baidu on mapping and navigation. That company operates Waymo-like robotaxi services in more than 10 cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and had provided more than five million rides cumulatively as of January. It supplied driver-assistance systems to automakers and has partnered with Chinese carmaker Geely on an electric vehicle brand called JiYue.
The prospect of autonomous driving has been one of the reasons Tesla's shares fetch such a premium to other automakers. Introducing it in a big market like China is certainly moving in the right direction. The availability of FSD would also help Tesla to sell cars against a plethora of rivals in China launching newer and cheaper models. Another big plus is that Tesla could tap in to the data from potentially millions of trips to improve its technology, though it is unclear whether it could use it outside of the country.
Newer and more premium car models in China typically have some type of driver-assistance systems, which may include functions like automatic lane changing to self-steering. All of these systems, including FSD, are still so-called Level 2 autonomous systems that require human supervision and have technical issues to fix. As in the U.S., fully autonomous vehicles face regulatory hurdles to ensure safety.
It will only be possible to compare Tesla's FSD with competing systems in China once on the road, since they have been operating in different countries, but it faces formidable competition. One potential rival is Huawei, the Chinese tech company that has faced U.S. sanctions in recent years. It isn't selling its own cars, but Huawei has been working with automakers on design and engineering. The company also supplies software and hardware for autonomous driving.
XPeng is among the Chinese EV makers that has been putting resources into developing self-driving systems. It has a system similar to FSD called XNGP that helps drivers navigate both highways and city streets. The company partnered with Volkswagen last year to develop EVs under the German carmaker's badge for the local market.
In much the same way that Chinese EV makers have given Tesla a run for its money in the past few years, the race to self-driving will feature intense competition.
Write to Jacky Wong at jacky.wong@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 07, 2024 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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