Autonomous cars: Elon Musk, surprise visit to Beijing / What is the CEO of Tesla looking for? – Reuters

A private jet linked to Tesla CEO TSLA.O Elon Musk landed in Beijing on Sunday, a flight tracking app showed, while two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters the billionaire gave the start of a surprise visit to the automaker’s second-largest market.

Musk is trying to meet with senior Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss launching Full-Self Driving (FSD) software in China and to get approval to transfer data collected in the country overseas to train algorithms for its self-driving technologies. autonomous driving, one of the people told Reuters.

As of 2021, Tesla has stored all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai, as required by Chinese regulators, and has not transferred any data to the United States.

The American electric vehicle maker released FSD, the best version of its Autopilot software, four years ago, but has yet to make it available in China, despite customers urging it to do so. thing.

Musk said this month that Tesla could make FSD available to customers in China “very soon” in response to a question on social media platform X.

Rival Chinese automakers such as Xpeng 9868.HK ​​have tried to gain an edge over Tesla by releasing similar software.

Musk’s visit to China was not publicly reported, and the people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The trip came just over a week after he pulled out of a planned visit to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing “Tesla’s very heavy obligations.”

The company said this month it would lay off 10 percent of its global workforce as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying electric vehicle price war led by Chinese brands.

Tesla has sold more than 1.7 million cars in China since it entered the market a decade ago, and the factory in Shanghai is the largest globally.

Musk’s visit coincides with the Beijing Auto Show, which opened last week and ends on May 4. Tesla does not have a stand at China’s biggest auto show and last attended in 2021.