Elon Musk visits Beijing as Tesla pushes for the widespread use of autonomous vehicles

Musk canceled his intended trip to India because of Tesla’s obligations, and he is now traveling to China.

By Sneha Sengupta On Apr 28, 2024

On April 28, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, reportedly paid an unexpected visit to Beijing to discuss the release of Full Self-Driving software and to request authorization to export data that was gathered in China.

He met with Premier Li Qiang, who hailed Tesla’s progress in China as an effective illustration of US-China economic cooperation, according to Chinese state media.

China is the company’s second-largest global market, but even though Tesla introduced Full Self-Driving (FSD) software four years ago, it hasn’t been made available there yet. Musk recently hinted that Chinese users would soon be able to access FSD.

Musk also had a meeting with Ren Hongbin, the head of the Beijing car show’s organizer, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Musk is requesting permission to send data collected in China overseas for the purpose of training algorithms for Tesla’s automated driving systems.

The trip takes place during the Beijing car show, where Tesla is not participating this year. GM CEO Mary Barra and other prominent figures from the industry have also spoken at the event.

Grace Tao, vice president of Tesla in China, stated in a commentary that autonomous driving technology will propel the EV market’s expansion. She emphasized Tesla’s pioneering work in the field of autonomous vehicle development.

Musk previously revealed ideas for a “robotaxi” using self-driving technology as well as new, less expensive models. In addition to the firm seeing its first quarterly revenue decline since 2020, Tesla’s shares has fallen this year.