During a recent trip to Beijing, Elon Musk reportedly discussed smoothing permissions for Tesla's data transfer and the potential of investing in a Chinese data center. He also explored the possibility of licensing Tesla's Full Self Driving (FSD) systems to Chinese EV makers. However, Tesla has not been able to offer the full version of FSD, which costs nearly $9,000, in China due to U.S. sanctions. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
Key takeaways:
- Tesla is planning to power the global development of its self-driving system with data from China, which could be processed within the country.
- The company has been developing plans for a data center in China to train the algorithm needed for more fully autonomous vehicles.
- Tesla's push to make fuller use of data from vehicles in China comes as the U.S. government has tried to clamp down on the transfer of AI technology from U.S. firms to China.
- Setting up a data center in China for FSD development would require Tesla to work with a Chinese partner and there is also a potential hardware-sourcing challenge.