Recently, the Chinese automotive information platform “Car Expert” launched a program called “Car Intelligence Refinery” to assist in driving education. The program selected over 20 best-selling brands in the market, including Tesla, Xiaomi, BYD, and Huawei, totaling 36 models, and tested 15 highly difficult real accident scenarios on city roads and highways.
The results showed that none of the models could pass all the tests. In city road tests, the lowest passing rate was for “entering a roundabout” at only 23%; while the passing rates for “4 schoolchildren crossing the road” and “emergency braking” were 58%. The Tesla Model X performed the best, passing 8 out of 9 scenarios.
The challenges on the highway scenes were even tougher, including scenarios like encountering accident vehicles, construction trucks, and “reckless pigs crossing the road”. Among them, the passing rate for the “disappearing lead car” scenario was only 14%, and the “reckless pig crossing” scenario was a mere 5%. Tesla’s Model 3 and Model X performed the best, passing 5 out of 6 scenarios.
The test results sparked extensive discussions in the Chinese car market. Today, Tesla CEO Musk also retweeted the test video on the platform, stating that despite the restrictions related to data export laws, Tesla did not have local training data, but still achieved the highest results in China. He said that in the future, Tesla will continue to increase data training efforts to ensure passing all scenarios.
Tesla’s Vice President Tao Lin stated that the company does not specifically care about rankings because the safety of assisted driving is endless, and Tesla will continue to pursue higher standards. She also reminded everyone that the real purpose of the test is for drivers to clearly understand the limits of assisted driving and be prepared to take over the vehicle at any time.
Brands under Huawei, such as Hongmeng Zhi Xing and Zhi Jie Automotive, chose not to comment on the test. Shao Mingfeng, the general manager of the Arto Vehicle Sales Company, stated that this test exposed bottlenecks in the entire industry in terms of high-speed evasion and obstacle recognition, indicating a need for further improvement.
East Gate Health, responsible for automotive safety content at “Car Expert,” reminded the public that currently, smart driving assistance cannot fully cope with complex traffic situations, and drivers must not take it lightly.