Tesla pauses FSD free trial in China as it waits for regulatory approval
Tesla paused its Full Self-Driving (FSD) free trial offer in China while awaiting regulatory approval.
Earlier this month, Tesla China announced it would offer customers a free FSD trial from March 17 until April 16, 2025. The limited-time offer would be available to Chinese customers whose cars were compatible with Tesla FSD’s hardware and software and had the newest version of navigation maps.
However, on Monday, March 24, Tesla received complaints stating that the company had temporarily paused its FSD free trial offer, reported Reuters.
“All parties are actively advancing the relevant process, and we will push it to you as soon as it is ready. We are also looking forward to it, please wait patiently,” responded Tesla’s customer support on Weibo.
Tesla has not officially provided a reason for the pause. However, a few factors might have contributed to Tesla’s decision to pause its FSD free trial offer.
In February, China’s Industry Ministry issued new rules for autonomous driving that might have affected Tesla’s free trial FSD offer. The new rules state that over-the-air updates related to autonomous driving are subject to regulatory approval. The Industry Ministry’s new rules for autonomous driving updates would likely slow down the release of Tesla FSD and autonomous driving features from other companies in China as well.
Besides the new rules, Tesla FSD is still awaiting regulatory approval in China. Rising tensions between the United States and the Chinese governments might delay Tesla FSD’s approval.
“Then China, which is a gigantic market, we do have some challenges because they weren’t — they currently allow us to transfer training video outside of China. And then the US government won’t let us do training in China. So, we’re in a bit of a there. It’s like a quandary,” Musk commented during the last TSLA earnings call.
China’s strict data laws have led Tesla to find other ways to train FSD. Tesla is working with the Chinese tech company Baidu to help FSD learn and navigate the roads in China.
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Source: https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-fsd-china-free-trial-launch/
