TMTPost --  Tesla Inc. is on the track to roll out its Full Self-driving (FSD) advanced driver assistant in China this year, Elon Musk, CEO of the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) titan signaled at an earnings call on Tuesday.

Credit：Tesla

“With 12.5, maybe 12.6 (version of FSD), but pretty soon, we will ask for regular regulatory approval of the Tesla supervised FSD in Europe, China, and other countries. And I think we are likely to receive that before the end of the year,” Musk told analysts at the conference.  The billionaire cofounder of Telsa admitted the FSD capabilities that are deployed outside of North America are far behind that in North America. He suggested regulators will not block the FSD software if they find that supervised autonomous driving is much safer than human drivers in billions of miles of actual driving.  

 Musk said in May that version 12.5 of FSD will start rolling out in late June. However, there seems to have been a delay with the software rolling out to select Tesla drivers only on Monday Earlier Tuesday, Musk said FSD 12.5’s initial rollout is currently focused on just Model Y units equipped with Hardware 4.0 (HW4) at his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. In resonse to a FSD user and the FSD tester @WholeMarsBlog, Musk explained Tesla is focusing on Model Y units with HW4 for FSD 12.5 for the initial release to make sure that works well, and the release of FSD 12.5 will broaden once the initial rollout, with the 5-time increase in parameters, is successful. He noted that Hardware 3.0 (HW3) will run the same parameter count as vehicles with HW4, but doing so requires extra work to optimize the code.  

Previous reports indicated Tesla is step up pushing for FSD launch in China, which would give a boost for the EV giant’s revenue and profits at a time when both are weighed by intense competition from BYD Co., Ltd. and other Chinese rivals.

Musk’s surprising visit in April has stirred speculation about looming FSD rollout in China. Musk was reported to meet officials in China about rollout of FSD system in China and permission to transfer data overseas, though the state-run media didn’t confirmed it yet.

In his in-person meeting with Musk in Beijing, Chinese Premier Li Qiang hailed Tesla's development in China as a successful example of China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation, and said that China's vast market will always be open to foreign-funded enterprises, which he called indispensible participants in and contributors to China's development. China will act on its words and intensify its efforts in expanding market access and enhancing services, among other areas, to offer a more favorable business environment and stronger support for foreign enterprises, the premier said.

Following the meeting, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) released a list showing that the first batch of 76 vehicle models from seven automakers including Tesla are compliant with all of four China’s data security requirements. The top Chinese auto industry body said it had conducted the relevant test since last November under Several Provisions on the Management of Automobile Data Security (Trial) 2021 (2021 Automobile Data Provisions). The list of 76 models includes all the 2023 versions of Model 3 and Model Y made in Tesla’s Gigafactory Shanghai. Tesla then said various local authorities in China have gradually removed restrictions on the movement and parking of intelligent connected connected vehicles made by the company and other automakers.

Reuters’s sources then revealed Baidu, China's major Internet search company, reached an agreement with Tesla to grant the car company access to its mapping license for data collection on China's public roads. The deal was reported to clear a final regulatory hurdle for Tesla's driver assistance system. As part of the deal, Baidu would also provide its lane-level navigation system to Tesla, the sources said.

Reuters reported in May that Tesla is preparing get FSD software registered with China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which oversees information technology, mail, telecommunications and software industry. A successful registration will lay the groundwork for Tesla’s internal FSD test, during which employees will drive on China’s public roads before a launch in the Chinese market in the coming months, Reuters cited sources. Besides the current one-time fee of RMB64,000 for vehicle owners’ access to FSD,  Tesla also considers a monthly subscription fee equivalent to about US$98.00 for the FSD software in China, according to the report.