According to a new report, Tesla is preparing to get Full Self-Driving (FSD) package approved in China – starting with employee vehicles.
Last month, Tesla’s stock jumped on a report that the automaker was “granted approval under certain conditions” to deploy FSD in China.
The report came after CEO Elon Musk met with Premier Li Qiang and it did sound like it was an unofficial deal as Tesla still needed to go through the proper channels.
Now, Reuters reports that Tesla is going through that process by registering the product with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology:
A successful software registration with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will pave the way for Tesla to internally test Full Self-Driving (FSD) by having its employees drive on China’s public roads before delivering it as an upgrade to its Chinese users in the coming months, said two of the people. The company currently offers two, less-advanced versions of its Autopilot driver assistance system in China.
Like the rollout in North America, Tesla is expected to adapt the system to Chinese roads by collecting data from customers vehicles and then testing the system in an internal employee fleet.
As the automaker sees the system working on Chinese roads, it would deploy to customer vehicles through over-the-air software updates.
Tesla is also working on a similar effort in Europe, where its FSD features have also yet to be approved.
The automaker’s efforts to deploy the more advanced driver assist features in new markets come after the release of FSD v12 in North America, which Musk touted as an important step toward self-driving.
The CEO insists that the company is on the verge of achieving its long-time promise, but for now, Tesla FSD remains a level 2 ADAS system with all responsibility lying with the driver rather than Tesla.