On Sunday, Elon Musk made an unannounced visit to Beijing. The CEO of electric-car maker Tesla is expected to meet with government officials to discuss the introduction of self-driving software and seek permission to move data outside of China. According to Reuters, citing a person familiar with the matter, this move would be significant for Tesla as it competes with local electric car manufacturers.
Elon Musk has recently indicated on social media that Tesla may bring Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology to China “very soon.” Although Tesla introduced its most autonomous version of Autopilot technology four years ago, it has yet to bring it to China. However, transferring data from China is crucial for training Tesla’s algorithms for self-driving. To comply with Chinese regulations, Tesla has kept data collected in China on servers in Beijing since 2021 and has not sent it to the United States.
Premier Li Qiang of Beijing praised Tesla’s growth in China as a successful example of economic and trade cooperation with the United States, according to Chinese state media. This highlights Tesla’s ambitions to expand its presence in the Chinese market and further develop technology for autonomous driving.