- Monday, May 13, 2024
The Tesla chief’s visit to China was not made prominently visible in public eyes.
By: Shubham Ghosh
DAYS after deferring his much anticipated visit to India, Elon Musk, chief executive of American electric vehicle (EV) giant Tesla, headed to China on a surprise visit, Reuters reported citing two informed sources who spoke on conditions of anonymity.
A private aircraft linked to Musk reached Beijing on Sunday (28), a flight tracking app revealed, the report added.
China is the second-biggest market for Tesla.
It was only a week before that Musk had postponed his visit to India citing “Tesla obligations”. He was scheduled to meet prime minister Narendra Modi and announce major business plans to enter the South Asian nation’s fast-growing market. For many, India’s leadership was also viewing the Tesla chief’s visit as a major development to show to the countrymen in the middle of a high-voltage national election.
Read: Opposition leader reacts to Musk deferring India visit, says ‘new’ PM will welcome him soon
One of the sources revealed that Musk was aiming to meet top Chinese authorities in Beijing to delve into the deployment plans for Full-Self Driving (FSD) software in China and securing consent to transfer locally gathered data overseas for refining algorithms powering Tesla’s autonomous driving advancements, the Reuters report added.
In response to a query on his social media platform X, Musk said that Tesla may make FSD available to customers in China “very soon.”
Read: India factory plans in limbo as Musk’s Tesla shifts focus
His visit to China was not made prominently visible in public eyes.
According to Reuters, Tesla, since 2021, has stored all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai as required by Chinese regulators and has not transferred any, back to the US.
Tesla has sold over 1.7 million cars in China since it entered the market a decade ago. The Shanghai factory is its largest globally.
Musk’s visit also coincides with the Beijing auto-show, which opened last week and will continue till May 4.
Tesla, however, does not have a booth at China’s largest auto-show and last attended in 2021.