After a long wait, Tesla has announced the launch of its fully self-driving technology in China.
The move follows years of efforts to get approval, and comes on the heels of Elon Musk’s visit to Beijing as part of a business cohort that accompanied U.S. President Trump on his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
In a post on X on Thursday, Tesla said that its full self-driving driving system—or FSD Supervised—is now available in several countries, including China.
The software is built on an AI-powered system that learns how to drive from millions of video clips taken from actual road experience, instead of relying on pre-programmed rules and sensors.
Getting approval to offer FSD in China bodes well for Tesla’s efforts to boost sales in the world’s largest electric-vehicle market, analysts say.
It could give the broader industry a boost too.
Chinese automakers have been transition to similar technology, but only XPeng is close to matching Tesla’s FSD technology.
The U.S. carmaker’s advance could spur its counterparts in China to close the gap in autonomous driving, analysts say, expecting to see increased competition and more technological developments.
“The move is a positive catalyst for China’s auto industry as it’s going to speed up the autonomous driving technology development in China,” said CCB International analyst Qu Ke.
China’s auto industry has faced slowing demand in recent months. Retail sales of passenger cars in April fell 21.5% from a year earlier to 1.38 million units, the China Passenger Car Association data showed.
Tesla and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the X post, Tesla said that FSD is also available in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, among others.
Write to Jiahui Huang at Jiahui.Huang@wsj.com
