Musk clears Tesla self-driving hurdle in China

"It's only a matter of time before we exceed the reliability of humans," Musk said in praise of self-driving Teslas

(Image credit: Mark Schiefelbein / AFP via Getty Images)

published 29 April 2024

What happened

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, during a surprise trip to Beijing, secured preliminary approval Monday to roll out the automaker's "Full Self-Driving" (FSD) software in China, Tesla's biggest overseas market, said Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. Last week U.S. regulators said a two-year investigation had discovered 75 crashes and one death involving FSD and 467 crashes and 13 deaths from FSD's less sophisticated iteration, Autopilot.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.