Tesla struck a series of deals with regulators and a Chinese artificial intelligence firm during a quick trip to Beijing on Sunday and Monday by Elon Musk, the automaker’s chief executive, potentially paving the way for the company to offer its most advanced self-driving software on cars in China.
Tesla had faced a few hurdles to offer the latest level of autonomous driving, which it calls Supervised Full Self-Driving. It has needed approval from Chinese regulators, who questioned whether the company took adequate precautions to protect data. And it has needed access to extremely high-resolution maps of the entire country.
Sir. Musk flew his private jet to Beijing on Sunday morning and met almost immediately with Premier Li Qiang, China’s No. 2 official after Xi Jinping. Sir. Li is a long-time ally of Mr. Musk, who, when he served as Communist Party secretary in Shanghai, helped clear the way for Tesla’s construction there of what is now the company’s largest car assembly plant.
The government-linked China Association of Automobile Manufacturers later announced that Tesla and five Chinese automakers had won regulatory and association approval for their data security measures on dozens of car models. The rules prevent automakers in China from using software that can identify faces of anyone outside their vehicles and include many other restrictions. Self-driving systems use cameras to guide vehicles.
The cars included Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y. The five Chinese manufacturers included BYD, China’s dominant electric car company and Tesla’s primary global rival, and Nio, a longtime player in China’s auto sector.
Tesla has operated a data center in Shanghai for the past three years that handles the extensive information that the cars it has sold in China collect as they navigate the country’s roads. China has tightened its data security rules in recent years to greatly limit information leaving the country.
Separately, Tesla has struck a deal with one of China’s biggest tech companies, Baidu, to get high-resolution roadway maps, according to a person familiar with the deal who was not authorized to speak publicly about it. Tesla cars in China have used Baidu maps for four years for basic navigation, guiding drivers where to turn, but they have not previously had access to higher-resolution maps.
Baidu is one of about 20 Chinese companies with the necessary credentials from the Chinese government to access high-resolution map data. Automakers are required to partner with one of these companies or be forced to rely heavily on cameras on their vehicles to create their own maps, as Tesla has done until now.
No details were immediately available Monday about what Tesla has agreed to do in exchange for the approvals. China has a long history of encouraging multinational companies to share significant technology in exchange for access to its market. But the Chinese government insists it does not force foreign companies to hand over their trade secrets, and promised the Trump administration it would not.
Tesla’s stock jumped Monday on the news of the approvals in China. The company reported last week that its profits fell by 55 percent in the first three months of the year, while its revenue fell by 9 percent. Days earlier, Tesla announced it would lay off 10 percent of its worldwide workforce, or about 14,000 employees.
As Chinese automakers introduce a large number of their own electric car models this year, Tesla is doubling down on its self-driving capabilities, a feature that even Chinese figures acknowledge Tesla is a world leader in.
Tesla already offers what it calls “supervised full self driving” in the US. The company charges $99 a month to upgrade Tesla cars from their Autopilot or Enhanced Autopilot driver assistance systems to the new level.
The main US road safety regulator said on Friday it was investigating Tesla’s recall of its Autopilot driver assistance system over concerns the company had not done enough to ensure drivers remained alert while using the technology.
The regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said there had been at least 29 fatal crashes involving Autopilot and fully self-driving cars from January 2018 to August 2023. But the analysis did not assess whether these were more or fewer deaths than if humans had been driving.
China has also had deaths as a result of mistakes made by self-driving cars, which are now offered by several Chinese companies as well as Tesla. But accidents involving human driver error are the frequent subject of viral videos in China, fueling a popular perception that self-driving cars may be safer.
Joy Dong the contribution of research.
