Tesla had to roll back its ‘Full Self-Driving’ free trial in China after a policy change brought more scrutiny to software updates for advanced driver assist systems.
Last month, Tesla launched a first version of its “Full Self-Driving” FSD package in China for owners with the latest “Hardware 4.0”, or “HW4”, vehicles.
The automaker made the system available through a free trial this month to try to encourage people to buy the system through an over-the-air software update.
However, Tesla halted the program this week.
Grace Tao, Tesla’s Vice-President in charge of the Chinese market, announced on Weibo:
“Dear car owners, the application of Tesla’s intelligent assisted driving function in China has received widespread attention. Thank you for your support and feedback.
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’, the team is completing the approval of the 3.0 and 4.0 hardware corresponding to the intelligent assisted driving software.
All parties are actively promoting the relevant process, and once it is ready, it will be pushed to everyone as soon as possible.
We are looking forward to it, so please be patient and thank you again for your understanding and trust.”
She is referencing the newly introduced ‘Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Access, Recall and Online Software Upgrade of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Products’, a new set of rules to more closely regulate software updates in connected vehicles, especially regarding advanced driver assist (ADAS) features, like Tesla’s FSD.
The new set of rules includes a requirement that automakers “submit detailed technical information” before deploying a software update to their fleet over the air.
Based on the Tesla executive’s comment, it sounds like Tesla is going through this requirement now.
Top comment by Aigars Mahinovs
Think ahead: let's assume that FSD is actually developed at some point in time by somebody. It is tested and validated and determined to be safe enough to replace human drivers in cars on public roads. What would be the first thing that every government would have to do? They would need to establish a process in which the software build in the car gets a valid drivers license. Exams, test reports, expert review, security checks, ... There will have to be a process that will prevent any Dave and Bob sending off random software driving 2 ton metal objects into kids on the sidewalk. Such a drivers license will be separate for every country (as driving rules are different!) and will have to be re-evaluated on every software update (AI always has risk of functional regressions on any update). If Tesla wants to roll out a new software release every month, then they will need to handle the overhead of passing drivers exams anewed every month in a hundred countries, before being allowed to roll out the update.
China is getting ahead of this particular problem by already starting to establish rules that must be followed before any software update is delivered to any customer car that is driving on their public roads. Others will follow. It is structurally unavoidable - there needs to be some kind of driving license that everyone (and everything) driving on public roads posses.
The new rules also strengthen recalls related to software updates and ADAS features and require automakers to report crashes involving those features.
Grace Tao mentioned Tesla is working on both HW3 and HW4 approval. In China, Tesla had only launched the new ADAS features based on its Full Self-Driving package on HW4 vehicles, which are equipped with a more powerful computer and better camera.
In North America, Tesla FSD is also available on HW3 vehicles, albeit with different, less-performing software.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently admitted that HW3 vehicles will not be able to achieve the promised unsupervised self-driving and will need to be retrofitted with more powerful computers.
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