By Raffaele Huang
SINGAPORE -- Tesla has won Beijing's blessing to roll out its advanced driver-assistance service in China, as chief executive Elon Musk made a surprise visit to the company's biggest overseas market.
Chinese officials told Tesla that Beijing has tentatively approved the company's plan to launch its "Full Self-Driving," or FSD, software feature in the country, people familiar with the matter said.
The U.S. electric-vehicle maker will deploy its autonomous driving services based on mapping and navigation functions provided by Chinese technology giant Baidu, the people said.
The partnership clears an important regulatory hurdle for Tesla to offer its driver-assistance system there. Partnering with a Chinese company helps ease regulators' concerns over any data-security risks, the people said.
Bloomberg earlier reported the deal with Baidu, which in addition to its core search-engine business has expanded into autonomous driving and artificial intelligence.
The approval follows a meeting between Musk and top Chinese officials including Premier Li Qiang, who was previously the Communist Party chief in Shanghai when Tesla was setting up its production facilities there.
On Monday, Musk also met with Robin Zeng, chairman of Tesla battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology, in Beijing.
Write to Raffaele Huang at raffaele.huang@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 29, 2024 01:50 ET (05:50 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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