Tesla brings 'Full Self-Driving' to China after years of delays as local EV rivals race ahead

After years of delays, Tesla announced Thursday that its "Full Self-Driving" capabilities are now available for its electric vehicles sold in China, as China's domestic EV brands have long since rolled out proprietary self-driving technologies.

The announcement on X, which is also owned by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, listed China as one of 10 markets where the company's FSD (Supervised) system is now available. While short on details, the post marks the first time the automaker has confirmed the availability of the technology in China.

The announcement comes a week after Musk, together with a U.S. delegation of business executives, joined U.S. President Donald Trump for his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

Before Thursday's announcement, the availability of its FSD technology in China was mired in ambiguity.

Unlike U.S. consumers, Tesla customers in China could only access the company's Autopilot and Enhanced Autopilot systems — precursors to the FSD system — while only select users had access to limited versions as the automaker awaited regulatory approval.

According to the company's China website, "intelligent assisted driving" is available on its Model 3 sedan at a one-time fee of 64,000 Chinese yuan ($9,409).

While Musk had touted plans for the company to bring the FSD system — which was first unveiled in the U.S. in 2020 — to China since 2024, these plans did not materialize as expected.

In July 2024, Musk said in a second-quarter earnings call that he expected regulatory approval from China's authorities before the end of that year. Musk's professed timeline was further delayed in September 2024, after he cited that the technology was still "pending regulatory approval."

As recently as April this year, the company said that it was still awaiting regulatory approval for the FSD system, CFO Vaibhav Taneja said in Tesla's first-quarter earnings call.

Speculation over approval for Tesla's proprietary self-driving technology in China, however, had mounted in recent days, with Bloomberg reporting Wednesday that the company had launched a concerted hiring effort for roles related to autonomous driving technology, such as autopilot test engineers, in the country.

As Tesla awaited regulatory approval over the years, Chinese rivals including Xiaomi and Xpeng expanded their own self-driving technologies.

Chinese robotaxi firms such as Pony.ai and Baidu's Apollo Go also forged ahead with the development of their autonomous-driving technologies.

In April, Tesla China sold the fourth-highest number of electric vehicles in the country, behind BYD, as well as automotive conglomerates Geely and Chery, according to monthly wholesale figures from the China Passenger Car Association.

A Tesla China representative declined to comment, while China's embassy in Singapore did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment.

— CNBC's Anniek Bao and Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.