- The Tesla repeatedly mistook bike lanes for turn lanes while navigating streets in Beijing.
- The EV also made illegal lane changes, crossing solid white lines in multiple road sections.
- However, as more drivers in China use FSD, the system is expected to gradually improve.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has officially launched in China, and if its track record in North America is anything to go by, no one should be shocked that it’s running into problems adapting to a new market. During a recent test, a Chinese car blogger managed to rack up no less than seven traffic violations while using FSD, many of them caught on camera, showcasing some of the system’s more questionable driving decisions.
A video shared on the Chinese social media platform Weibo by car blogger Chen Zhen shows the EV repeatedly veering into lanes designated for bicycles, motorbikes, and scooters. In one instance, the system mistakenly treated a bike lane as a right-turn lane, and unfortunately for the driver, a police car was waiting at the very same intersection.
Read: Tesla’s Sales In China Fall As BYD Soars In January
During the same test, the Tesla also made illegal lane changes, crossing over solid lines when it shouldn’t have.
As Tesla crowdsources data from its drivers to develop and improve the Full-Self Driving system, it’s reasonable to assume that, like in the US, the system will steadily improve over time as it becomes accustomed to the driving rules of China and is more familiar with things like lane markings and road signs. However, improvements will likely be quite slow.
According to local media outlet Shine, a Chinese car review team recently put FSD to the test in a Tesla Model Y, comparing it against advanced driver-assistance systems from domestic automakers Li Auto and Aito. The results weren’t exactly confidence-inspiring. In the test, Tesla’s FSD racked up 34 traffic violations and required 24 driver interventions.
By comparison, the Li Auto L7 had just 9 interventions and 14 violations while the Aito M9 had 12 interventions and 14 violations. While those two locally-made vehicles performed better than the Tesla, none of the results instill much confidence about the abilities of these systems.
For now, it seems like Tesla’s FSD in China has a long road ahead, hopefully, one without any more bike lanes mistaken for turn lanes.