Elon Musk’s surprise visit to China appears to have paid immediate dividends, with Tesla Inc. clearing two key hurdles to introduce its driver-assistance system to the world’s biggest auto market. Tesla shares rose over 12% in premarket trading.
The US electric car maker will partner with Chinese tech giant Baidu Inc. for mapping and navigation functions to deploy what it calls Full-Self Driving, according to people familiar with the matter. Tesla has also cleared a key data security and privacy requirement in China, which would help ease some of the concerns over its data security issues.
The moves come after Tesla Chief Executive Office Elon Musk made an unannounced trip to China on Sunday, seeking approval for driver-assistance software that could help arrest the carmaker’s revenue decline. While the suite of features require constant supervision and don’t make Teslas autonomous, the company in the US charges $8,000 to buy FSD outright, or $99 a month for a subscription.
Musk met Sunday with Premier Li Qiang, who as the Chinese Communist Party secretary for Shanghai helped the company set up what is now its top plant globally.
Musk’s surprise China visit is “a watershed moment,” Wedbush Securities senior analyst Dan Ives said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “This could open up FSD in China, which I view as unlocking what really could be the golden opportunity for them when it comes to FSD and autonomous in China, which has been a missing piece in the puzzle.”