Musk Praises Tesla Autopilot Performance in China Test, Sparking Debate

Musk Praises Tesla's Performance, Fueling Debate on Autopilot Tests in China

Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk reshared a video from Dongchedi's "Dongche Zhilian Chang" (懂车智炼场) program, which tests autonomous driving systems, noting that Tesla achieved the highest score in tests conducted in China.

Dongchedi emphasized that the program is an educational initiative aimed at reminding the public to understand autonomous driving functions correctly, and that no official ranking was conducted. The program simulated high-risk accident scenarios in urban and highway environments, testing nearly 40 car models, revealing an average pass rate of only 35.74%.

Background of the Tests

On July 23rd, Dongchedi launched a large-scale autonomous driving education program called "Dongche Zhilian Chang." The program selected over 20 brands of best-selling vehicles on the market with complete autonomous driving functions, including vehicles from brands such as AITO, Luxeed, Xiaomi, Xpeng, NIO, BYD, Li Auto, Avatr, and Tesla.

The program simulated 15 types of high-risk accident scenarios in urban and highway environments, including 9 urban scenarios such as "Entering a roundabout," "Merging within a roundabout," and "Avoiding disabled vehicles," as well as 6 highway scenarios such as "Accident vehicle appearing on the highway," "Encountering a truck in a construction zone," and "Disappearing lead vehicle."

Testing Methodology

The test adopted a combination of real road environments and simulated obstacles. For example, in night scenarios, reflective cones and vehicles temporarily changing lanes were set up to test the system's perception and decision-making abilities.

Test Results

In the test, the 2023 Tesla Model 3, relying solely on a pure vision solution with 7 cameras, successfully passed 5 out of 6 tests, earning the "First Place" title. Other brands' vehicles did not manage to pass more than 3 tests. In the final results, the Tesla Model 3 and Model X ranked first and second with 5 successful tests, becoming the "biggest winners."

Musk indicated that Tesla is adding training data from simulators and test tracks around the world to achieve success in all tests. He also emphasized that because the law prohibits data export, Tesla achieved this accomplishment in China without local training data. This highlights Tesla's global approach to autonomous driving development.

Reactions and Controversy

The program sparked widespread discussion in the industry after its release. Some internet users and bloggers criticized Dongchedi's tests, claiming that they contained loopholes and that the process was not rigorous.

Dongchedi responded that a large number of accounts created images in bulk by extracting video content of a specific vehicle and widely publishing them on various platforms and in comment sections, and that the relevant content was inconsistent with the facts. Dongchedi reiterated that the program only represents the collision results of the vehicles at the time of the accident simulation, and does not represent their performance in all autonomous driving scenarios. They emphasized that there was no human intervention in the steering wheel during the test, and that all test data was the performance of the autonomous driving systems.

Experts suggest that this type of testing helps consumers correctly understand autonomous driving functions and pay attention to personal driving safety. It's important to note that autonomous driving technologies are still under development, and independent tests like these contribute to their improvement and increase consumer awareness of their capabilities and limitations. The results offer valuable insights into the current state of ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems) technology and its real-world performance.