(Nov 7): Tesla Inc chief executive officer Elon Musk said he expects China to fully approve the carmaker’s advanced driver-assistance capabilities that are similar to those marketed as Full Self-Driving (FSD) in the US.
“We have partial approval in China and, hopefully, we will have full approval in China around February or March or so,” Musk said at Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting, where his US$1 trillion compensation package was approved overwhelmingly. “That’s what they have told us.”
Tesla has long lobbied officials to get the green light for its software that, despite the name, requires constant human supervision and frequent interventions. The features are an important pillar in the carmaker’s push to revive sales in China, where it’s losing ground to popular domestic brands, as well as Musk’s broader vision to make fully autonomous vehicles.
Tesla’s advanced features currently have partial approval in the world’s biggest electric vehicle market that enabled the American electric vehicle to conduct trials. However, wider tests have been paused until Tesla secured the full approval from Chinese regulators.
In its test roll out earlier this year, the carmaker dropped FSD from the name of the system it uses in China to comply with tougher local rules that require automakers to be clear about what their features can and can’t do.
The company’s efforts to roll out the technology in China started back in April 2024, when Musk flew to Beijing to meet with Chinese officials including Premier Li Qiang. Tesla has since reached a mapping and navigation deal with Chinese tech company Baidu Inc and partly cleared requirements for how it handles data-security and privacy issues.
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Musk also called on European customers to pressure regulators there to approve the driving technology. The region has yet to give it the green light for public use.
While Tesla has said FSD improves safety, the company’s record is under intense scrutiny.
US auto safety regulators are probing the carmaker over incidents in which its vehicles drove through red lights and violated other traffic laws while using the the partial-automation software. Other investigations are looking at Tesla’s doors, Autopilot features and whether it’s reporting crashes in a timely manner.
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