Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday for an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of Full Self-Driving software and permission to transfer data abroad, a person with knowledge said on the House.
Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, where Li Qiang told Elon Musk that Tesla's development in China can be regarded as a successful example of economic and trade cooperation between the US and China.
Elon Musk confirmed his meeting with the Prime Minister on Sunday with a post on social media platform X.
“Honoured to meet Premier Li Qiang. We have known each other for many years now, since the early days of Shanghai,” Elon Musk wrote, alongside a photo with the Prime Minister.
Honored to meet Premier Li Qiang.
We've known each other for many years now, since the early Shanghai days. pic.twitter.com/JCnv6MbZ6W
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2024
Tesla reached an agreement with Chinese authorities in 2018 for a factory in Shanghai, its first outside the US.
The US electric vehicle maker introduced Full Self-Driving, or FSD, the most autonomous version of its Autopilot software four years ago, but has yet to make it available in China, the world's second-largest market, despite customers insist So.
Elon Musk said this month that Tesla will 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 are trying to gain an advantage over Tesla by rolling out similar software.
Elon Musk is seeking approval to transfer data collected in the country abroad to train algorithms for his autonomous driving technologies, the person said.
Tesla has stored all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai since 2021, as required by Chinese regulators, and has not sent any data back to the United States.
Elon Musk's visit to China, first reported by Reuters, was not publicly flagged and the person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV did not say in its report on Elon Musk's meeting with Li Qiang whether the two had discussed FSD or data.
Earlier in the day, a separate report on state radio said that Li Qiang had attended the ongoing Beijing Auto Show and commented on how China's smart new energy vehicle (NEV) sector had gained a leading position in the market and that it country had to work hard and preserve its benefits.
Elon Musk also met with Ren Hongbin, a government official who heads the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the organizer of the Beijing auto show, state media reported.
“It's good to see electric vehicles making progress in China. All cars will be electric in the future,” Elon Musk said in a video posted on social media by a user affiliated with state media.
Elon Musk's trip came just over a week after he scrapped a planned visit to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing “very heavy Tesla commitments.”
The company said this month it would lay off 10% of its global workforce as it struggles with falling sales and a growing price war for electric vehicles led by Chinese brands.
U.S. auto safety regulators said Friday they had opened an investigation into whether Tesla's recall of more than 2 million vehicles in the U.S., announced in December to install new Autopilot protections, was enough after a series of crashes.
Landed in Beijing
A Gulfstream private jet with tail number N272BG registered to Falcon Landing, a company linked to SpaceX and Tesla, landed at Beijing Capital Airport at 6:03 a.m. GMT on Sunday, according to Chinese flight tracking app Flight Manager.
The other aircraft registered under Falcon Landing is the N628TS, Elon Musk's main plane on which he traveled to China almost a year ago on his last trip, when he met Chinese government officials in Beijing and visited Tesla's factory in Shanghai.
Tesla has sold more than 1.7 million cars in China since it launched a decade ago and its Shanghai factory is the largest worldwide.
Elon Musk's visit coincides with the Beijing auto show, which opened last week and ends on May 4. Tesla does not have a booth at China's largest auto show and was last present in 2021.
GM CEO Mary Barra made an unannounced visit to the world's largest auto market on Friday, according to two people with knowledge of her schedule. GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Also on Friday, Grace Tao, Tesla's vice president in charge of external relations in China, published a commentary on the social media account of state media outlet People's Daily, arguing that autonomous driving technologies would be the new growth engine for the EV industry.
Tao said in the article that Tesla led research and development in autonomous driving with its “end-to-end neural network” technology and collected data from millions of cars on the road.
China's complicated traffic conditions, with more pedestrians and cyclists than in many other markets, offer more scenarios that are crucial for training autonomous driving algorithms faster, according to industry experts.
Elon Musk said last week that Tesla would introduce new, cheaper models using its current EV platforms and production lines and offer a new “robotaxi” with self-driving technology. He said in a post on X this month that he would unveil the robotaxi on August 8.
Shares of Tesla have fallen nearly a third since the start of the year as concerns about the EV maker's growth trajectory have grown. Last week, Tesla reported its first decline in quarterly sales since 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic slowed production and deliveries.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)