Tech billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk boarded a plane departing Beijing on Monday, an AFP journalist said, after a whistle-stop visit that saw his company receive a key data security clearance from Chinese authorities.
Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday for his second trip to China in less than a year, where he met top officials including Premier Li Qiang as he worked to boost his company's fortunes in the world's largest electric car market.
On the same day, Tesla's locally produced models were named among the EVs that meet China's data security requirements, overcoming a major regulatory hurdle.
The tycoon boarded his private jet at Beijing Capital Airport just before 1pm (0500 GMT), with Chinese state-backed flight tracking app Utrip saying the plane was headed to Anchorage, Alaska.
The US electric car giant also appeared to be moving closer to government approval to use its assisted driving technology in China by teaming up with tech titan Baidu for mapping and navigation features, Bloomberg reported.
Despite increasing competition from domestic companies like BYD, Tesla's remain one of the best-selling electric vehicles in China, but it is trying to boost sales with features like 'Full Self Driving' (FSD), which must comply with strict data and privacy laws .
The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said it has been testing vehicles since November 2023 with a national computer security regulator on how they collect and process data, including personal information and recordings of faces outside the car.
“Among them, 76 models from six companies (BYD, Li Auto, Lotus, Hozon Auto, Tesla and NIO) meet the four compliance requirements of automotive data security,” CAAM said in a statement.
Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y, produced at its massive Shanghai factory, were on the list.
The company's advanced driver assistance features don't make its cars fully autonomous, and Tesla says its Autopilot and FSD capabilities are intended to be used under driver supervision.
It sells FSD for $8,000 in the United States, or for a monthly subscription of $99.
Tesla did not immediately respond to questions from AFP about FSD in China and its reported partnership with Baidu.
Earlier this month, Musk said in response to a question on his social media platform X that FSD availability in China “could be possible very soon.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)