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Tesla’s FSD launch in China heats up competition with domestic EV makers
The long-awaited roll-out got regulator approval a week after Tesla CEO Elon Musk visited China as part of the US president’s delegation
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Themis QiPublished: 10:42am, 21 May 2026Updated: 10:51am, 21 May 2026
Tesla announced the roll-out of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system in China, a week after its founder and CEO, US billionaire Elon Musk, visited the country as part of a tour led by President Donald Trump.
The arrival of the system will raise the self-driving game in a market where Level 3 (L3) automated driving has been legalised.“FSD Supervised” was now available in China and nine other countries including the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Netherlands, the electric vehicle giant said on social media on Thursday.Advertisement
FSD’s entry into China had been rumoured for the past few years, while the company’s Chinese entity awaited the nod from regulators.
The system faces intense pressure in China from domestic rivals like Xpeng, Huawei Technologies and BYD. Local EV makers are outperforming Tesla in navigating complex Chinese streets and have a head start in commercialising autonomous features.AdvertisementHuawei plans to invest as much as 80 billion yuan (US$11.7 billion) over the next five years to boost computing power essential for training and testing semi-autonomous driving systems.AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed00:0000:001.00x