A private jet associated with Tesla CEO Elon Musk has arrived in Beijing on Sunday, marking the beginning of an unexpected visit to the automaker’s second-largest market, as reported by two sources familiar with the matter.
Musk intends to engage with senior Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the deployment of Full-Self Driving (FSD) software in China and to seek approval for transferring locally collected data abroad for training algorithms in autonomous driving technologies.
Since 2021, Tesla has complied with Chinese regulations by storing all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai and has refrained from transferring any data back to the United States.
Despite customer demand, Tesla has yet to introduce FSD, the most autonomous version of its Autopilot software, in China. Musk recently hinted at the imminent availability of FSD to Chinese customers in response to inquiries on social media.
Meanwhile, Chinese automakers like Xpeng have been striving to rival Tesla by introducing similar software offerings. Musk’s visit to China was not publicly announced, and the sources spoke anonymously due to lack of authorization to speak with the media. Tesla has not responded to requests for comment.
This visit follows Musk’s cancellation of a planned trip to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing prior commitments with Tesla.
The private jet that landed in Beijing, registered under Falcon Landing, is associated with SpaceX and Tesla.
Tesla’s presence in China has been significant, with over 1.7 million cars sold since its entry into the market, and its Shanghai factory stands as its largest globally. Musk’s visit coincides with the Beijing auto show, although Tesla does not have a booth at the event this year.
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