- Elon Musk is heading to China to accelerate the full rollout of Tesla’s self-driving technology, according to reports.
- Musk is expected to meet with senior Chinese officials.
- Tesla faces increased competition and scrutiny amid falling revenue and layoffs.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk landed in China on Sunday for the tech billionaire’s second trip in less than a year to the world’s largest electric vehicle market.
The purpose of the trip is to accelerate the deployment of Tesla’s fully autonomous driving technology, the most advanced version of its Autopilot software, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter. Musk is expected to meet with senior officials to discuss the software and obtain permission to transfer data overseas, the person said.
Musk also visited China in May last year when he met with Chinese ministers of foreign affairs, trade and industry. The contents of the meetings were not disclosed, although Reuters reported at the time that Musk discussed the development of electric vehicles.
Earlier this month, Musk said in a post on that Tesla would make fully autonomous driving (FSD) available to Chinese customers “very soon”.
During an earnings conference call on April 23, Musk said: “So we plan, with approval from the regulators, to launch it as a supervised autonomy system in any market where we can get regulatory approval for this, which we believe includes China. “.
Tesla has faced increased competition from Chinese automakers since electric vehicle maker Xpeng announced last year that it was upgrading its advanced driver assistance software (FSD equivalent) and planned to implement all its functions available to drivers across China by 2024.
Musk’s trip to China comes after he canceled a visit to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Musk said he had “very heavy obligations to Tesla.”
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, sent outside of normal business hours.
It’s been a tough month for the electric vehicle maker. During its earnings call last week, Tesla reported its first drop in quarterly revenue since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic led to delays in production and deliveries.
This month, the electric vehicle maker announced it would lay off 10% of its global workforce due to falling sales.
U.S. federal safety regulators also announced Friday that they are opening an investigation into whether Tesla’s recall of more than two million vehicles in the United States, which the company announced in December to install new driver protections automatic, was sufficient after several accidents.
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