Musk clears Tesla self-driving hurdle in China

Elon Musk in Beijing — "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)

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.

Who said what

Beijing is eager to work with the U.S. on more "win-win" cooperation like Tesla's Chinese operation, Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Musk on Sunday, according to Chinese state media. Musk recently said Tesla could make FSD available to Chinese customers "very soon."

The commentary

Chinese data-safety rules have hindered FSD rollout, leaving Tesla "lagging behind EVs made by some Chinese brands that can drive near-automatically in most scenarios," the Journal said. Getting FSD sign-off from Beijing makes Musk's visit a "major moment for Tesla," Wedbush analysts said.

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What next?

Musk told investors last week that Tesla is "going to solve autonomy" and with the latest version of FSD, "it's only a matter of time before we exceed the reliability of humans."

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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.