The Chinese authorities became the first foreign-invested company to decide on the suitability of Tesla’s data safety inspection. The green light has been turned on for Tesla’s introduction of FSD software in China.
According to the Chinese economic media Cheil Industries on the 28th, the China Automobile Industry Association and the National Computer Network Emergency Technology Processing Cooperation Center issued a “notification of the status of safety requirements inspection in paragraph 4 of automobile data processing (first).”
The inspection is the Chinese government’s regulation on data processing of self-driving cars. The inspection will examine four requirements: △ anonymization of face information, etc., △ prohibition of data collection on the driver’s seat △ processing in-vehicle data. However, foreign-invested companies such as Tesla had never passed the inspection before, and thus acted as a kind of trade barrier. On the same day, all models (Model 3 and Model Y) produced at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai passed the inspection for the first time.
“Tesla has laid a certain foundation for promoting FSD in the Chinese market,” the China Business Newspaper said. “Tesla said restrictions on use are being canceled one after another in Shanghai, the center of manufacturing in China.” Chinese electric car makers BYD, Lioto, Lotus, Hozon and Nio have also received approval.
Earlier, Tesla CEO Elon Musk visited Beijing on the same day and met with high-ranking Chinese officials. Reuters observed that CEO Musk would discuss the launch of FSD software in China during his visit to China, and state-run China Central Television (CC) reported that CEO Musk met with Premier Li Chang, China’s second-in-command.
This decision made by China will be an opportunity for other global companies in the future. Why is China lifting the restrictions, which had many restrictions on foreign-funded companies? Isn’t it difficult to live on its own anymore? We hope that the results of Tesla in China will have a positive impact on other global foreign-funded companies.
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL