Tesla Photo:Xinhua

Chinese car companies are very competitive, especially when it comes to software, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said via video at the 2021 edition of World New Energy Vehicle Congress held in South China's Hainan Province on Friday, adding that it is software that has shaped almost all processes across the automotive industry from design to manufacturing, especially when addressing the future of autonomous driving.

Musk said China is the world's largest and most dynamic new energy vehicle market. Chinese consumers hope that cars have more connected and intelligent functions. Therefore, Tesla views China's intelligent connected vehicle market as having huge growth potential.

The high-profile US CEO also spoke very positively about the prospects of autonomous driving at the conference, saying autonomous driving can be realized through visual neural networks, and it is more than 10 times safer than normal people's driving.

Tesla will work with governments to ensure data security, and believes it's necessary to adopt technical measures to eliminate public concerns, said Musk.

Musk's praise of his Chinese counterparts and commitment to data security came as the new technology has drawn widespread concern across the globe following several high-profile incidents, and China is increasingly significant as both a market and manufacturing base for the US carmaker.

Tesla's sales in the Chinese market in August reached 44,264 units, up 275 percent year-on-year, its best performance ever and also the first time it surpassed 40,000 units in a single month, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.

As of August, Tesla has sold 152,531 cars in the Chinese market in 2021, already surpassing last year's total amount.

The performance also came despite a series of accidents involving Tesla cars, which contributed to public concerns over safety.

Development of the new energy vehicles has been high on China's agenda over the past years. 

Miao Wei, former minister of the Ministry of Industry Information Technology, said at the conference on Friday that it's necessary to give full play to China's advantages in administrative support, market space, information and communication technology, noting that China will surely consolidate its leadership of intelligent networked vehicles, and ultimately achieve the goal of building a powerful NEV sector.

While Miao stressed that the development of intelligent networked vehicles cannot be achieved overnight. The actual realization of unmanned driving must be based on placing safety first, noting that assisted driving has already been widely used in new models.