Elon Musk’s China visit: Tesla clears data security, full self-driving hurdles for locally-made cars

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s China visit has proven fruitful for the EV giant as the company managed to get a clearance to roll out self-driving software as Tesla's cars made in China passed key data security and privacy requirement in China.

Previously, Tesla vehicles were banned from Chinese military installations and certain governmental sites due to apprehensions regarding data collection. The clearance will help Tesla’s efforts to revive its declining sales in World’s second-largest market for Electric Vehicles (EV) after the US.

Musk has been looking to obtain approval to transfer data collected in China to train algorithms for its autonomous driving technologies. The company since 2021 has been storing all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai as required by Chinese regulators, reported The Indian Express.

Tesla's biggest plant globally in Shanghai that makes over 1 million units of Model 3 and Y cars a year were found to be compliant with China's data security requirements.

Musk arrived in China on Sunday, just a week after postponing his India visit citing Tesla-related obligations where he was supposed to meet PM Modi and an Indian space startup.

This was his second trip in less than a year to China where he met top officials including Premier Li Qiang, as he worked to boost his company's fortunes in the world's biggest electric car market.

The tech billionaire was expected to discuss the rollout of Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and permission to transfer driving data overseas.