Elon Musk skips Beijing as Tesla clears major regulatory hurdles in China

Tech billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk boarded a plane departing from Beijing on Monday, an AFP journalist said, after a whistlestop trip in which his company received a key data security clearance from Chinese authorities.

Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday for his second visit to China in less than a year, where he met with top officials including Premier Li Qiang as he sought to boost his company’s fortunes in the world’s largest electric car market. Work done.

The same day, Tesla’s locally produced models were listed among EVs that meet China’s data security requirements, clearing a major regulatory hurdle.

The magnate boarded his private jet at Beijing Capital Airport just before 1:00 p.m. (0500 GMT), Chinese state-backed flight tracking app YouTrip said the plane was bound for Anchorage, Alaska.

The US electric car giant has also moved closer to government approval to use its assisted driving technology in China by teaming up with tech titan Baidu for maps and navigation features, Bloomberg reports.

Tesla remains one of the best-selling electric vehicles in China, despite intense competition from domestic companies such as BYD, but it is trying to boost sales with features such as “full self driving” (FSD), Which require compliance with strict data and privacy laws.

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said it is testing the vehicles with a national computer security regulator from November 2023 on how they collect and process data, including personal information and recording of faces outside the car.

“76 models from six of those companies (BYD, Li Auto, Lotus, Hozon Auto, Tesla and NIO) meet the four compliance requirements of automotive data security,” CAAM said in a statement.

Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y, manufactured at its massive factory in Shanghai, were on the list.

The company’s advanced assisted driving features don’t make its cars fully autonomous, and Tesla says its Autopilot and FSD capabilities are meant to be used under driver supervision.

It sells FSD in the United States for $8,000 or a monthly $99 subscription.

Tesla did not immediately respond to AFP questions about its alleged partnerships with FSD and Baidu in China.

Earlier this month, in response to a question on his social media platform X, Musk had said that availability of FSD in China “could be possible very soon”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)