Elon Musk made an unannounced visit to Beijing on Sunday, where he 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 Chinese state media, Premier Li Qiang praised Tesla’s growth in China as a successful example of economic and trade cooperation with the United States.
Tesla has been keeping data collected in China on servers in Beijing since 2021 in order to comply with Chinese regulations. However, this has been hindering the company’s ability to train its algorithms for self-driving, as transferring data from China is crucial for this process.
Recently, Elon Musk indicated on social media that Tesla may bring Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology to China “very soon.” This would be a significant move for Tesla as it competes with local electric car manufacturers. Although Tesla introduced its most autonomous version of Autopilot technology four years ago, it has yet to bring it to China.
Overall, Elon Musk’s visit to Beijing highlights the company’s ambitions to expand its presence in the Chinese market and further develop technology for autonomous driving.