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 Chinese state media, Premier Li Qiang of Beijing praised Tesla’s growth in China as a successful example of economic and trade cooperation with the United States. However, this may be a challenge for Tesla as it competes with local electric car manufacturers in the country.
Tesla has yet to bring its most autonomous version of Autopilot technology, Full Self-Driving (FSD), to China, despite introducing it four years ago. However, Elon Musk recently indicated on social media that Tesla may bring FSD to China “very soon.”
Moving 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.
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.