Elon Musk-led EV giant Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) reportedly denied that it is winding down its Full Self-Driving (FSD) efforts in the Chinese market.
Not Pulling Back on FSD, Data Center
According to a report by Chinese media outlet Tencent Technology on Wednesday, the EV giant clarified that the report was “false” and that it was not shutting down the data center in Shanghai. Tesla reportedly added that it was accelerating hiring processes for self-driving-related positions. The company also said that it has reported the rumors to the police.
The rumors stemmed from online speculation where it was seen that Tesla did not list China among the countries where it was offering FSD Supervised subscriptions, the report said. However, the company’s North American website still lists China among the markets where users can use FSD Supervised.
Tesla FSD China
In May this year, Tesla officially launched the FSD service in China after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held bilateral trade talks, as several high-profile business leaders, including Musk and Nvidia Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang, among others, accompanied the President to China.
Tesla’s FSD service has remained ambiguous in China, with Musk earlier saying that he expected Chinese authorities to approve FSD, but his claim was refuted by sources in Beijing. In China, Tesla offers “Tesla Assisted Driving” for RMB 64,000, which is somewhere around $9,500. Tesla, on its Chinese website, says driver assistance features will be “introduced later.”
On the other hand, Chinese automakers like NIO Inc. (NYSE:NIO) as well as tech giant Xiaomi Corp. (OTC:XIACF) (OTC:XIACY) have accelerated development of self-driving platforms, with Xiaomi recently unveiling its first-ever in-house self-driving chip.
Price Action: TSLA shares were up 0.58% to $347.58 during pre-market trading on Thursday.
Disclaimer: The source of the news was originally published in Chinese and has been translated into English.
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Photo Courtesy: Frederic Legrand – COMEO on Shutterstock
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