Huge Chinese self-driving test puts 26 cars including Teslas through 234 simulations to see how they fare

Chinese outlet Dongchedi just staged a self-driving test for 26 cars, and results were varied.

Nine tests, 234 chances to shine – or stumble – on streets full of scooters, kids, and one nasty U-turn.

The lineup of participants had everything from Teslas to Toyotas, and China’s flashiest new EVs.

Some handled it. Others… sent the child mannequins flying.

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The self-driving test involved 234 simulations of city mayhem

This wasn’t some safe lab demo or fenced-off track.

Dongchedi actually shut down two stretches of real city road: a sprawling, maze-like roundabout and a nearby strip of intersections with no traffic lights or stop signs.

The roundabout went first, and it was a circus. 

Cars had to merge into traffic they couldn’t fully see, slip left through a line of vehicles to reach the inner circle, and then handle the trickiest part – a scooter lane where two riders stopped to let four ‘kids’ sprint across the road. 

One car after another faltered.

Six just kept looping the circle like confused Roombas, unsure how to exit, and 11 hit the mannequins.

A Tesla Model 3 managed to avoid disaster only by diving into the bike lane, which was clever, but definitely wouldn’t fly in the real world.

Then it was on to the intersections. 

These tests sounded simple: a U-turn, a reversing car, a blind-spot, and a scooter merge.

On paper, easy. In practice, pure mayhem. Cars hesitated, braked late, and some went completely rogue. 

When the dust settled, the scoreboard told the story: Tesla’s Model X was the clear leader, passing eight of nine tests and only clipping a reversing car. 

The Model 3 was shakier but still outperformed most of the competition, with Huawei-backed Luxeed R7 and Avatr 12 also scoring well.

Self-driving cars have a way to go yet

The biggest lesson from Dongchedi’s urban test is simple: self-driving cars still aren’t ready to drive themselves.

Some of the 26 cars handled parts of the chaos well, but too many froze, wandered off-course, or hit the child mannequins.

Even Tesla’s Full Self-Driving car – the top performing Model X – still needed a human behind the wheel and occasionally made questionable moves.

And that’s the point. True autonomy is still a long way off. Level 5, where the car drives itself with zero human input, remains the dream.

Tesla is betting on cameras and neural nets to get there, while Chinese brands like Xpeng and Huawei are layering in lidar and radar. Different tech, same goal: a car that doesn’t need you.

Dongchedi’s test is a reminder of how far we still are from that reality. 

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