Musk makes surprise visit to Beijing as Tesla’s China-made cars pass data security rules

BEIJING
—
Local
Chinese
authorities
have
removed
restrictions
on


Tesla
cars
after
the
company’s
China-made
vehicles
passed
the
country’s
data
security
requirements,
the
automaker
said
Sunday.

The
breakthrough
came
as
Tesla
CEO

Elon
Musk
arrived
in
Beijing
for
an
unexpected
meeting
with
Chinese
Premier
Li
Qiang,
amid
the
first
major
auto
show
in
the
city
in
four
years.

Although
Tesla’s
electric
cars
are
some
of
the

most
popular
vehicles
in
China,
they
have

reportedly
been
banned
from
some
government-related
properties
due
to
concerns
about
what
data
the
U.S.-based
automaker
can
collect.

Tesla’s
press
release
did
not
specify
which
local
authorities
had
removed
restrictions
on
the
cars.
The
Biden
administration
earlier
this
year

announced
a
probe
into
whether
imported
cars
from
China
pose
national
security
risks
due
to
their
ability
to
potentially
collect
data
about
the
U.S.
and
send
it
back
to
China.

Tesla’s
vehicles
were
not
the
only
ones
that
passed
the
data
security
rules.

In
addition
to
Tesla’s
Model
3
and
Model
Y,
several
new
energy
vehicles
from


BYD,


Lotus,
Nezha,


Li
Auto
and


Nio
passed
China’s
data
security
requirements,
the
China
Association
of
Automobile
Manufacturers
and
the
National
Computer
Network
Emergency
Response
Technical
Team/Coordination
Center
of
China
said
Sunday.

The
new
data
security
requirements
for
“connected
vehicles”
were
released
in
November
and
cover
cars
released
in
2022
and
2023
which
automakers
voluntarily
submit
for
inspection,
the
center
said.

The
rules
test
for
whether
the
cars
anonymize
facial
recognition
data
outside
the
vehicle,
default
to
not
collecting
cockpit
data,
process
that
data
inside
the
car
and
prominently
notify
users
of
personal
information
processing.
Tesla
was
included
in
the
first
batch
of
automakers
that
met
the
data
compliance
requirements.

Tesla
said
in
its
press
release
that
it
localized
data
storage
in
2021
at
its
Shanghai
data
center,
and
passed
the
ISO
27001
international
standard
for
information
security
after
a
review
by
third-party
auditors.

Musk’s
visit
to
China
on
Sunday
also
raised
expectations
that
Tesla’s
driver-assist
software
Full
Self
Driving
would
soon
be
available
in
the
country.

However,
JL
Warren
Capital
CEO
and
Head
of
Research

Junheng
Li
said
on
X
that
the
rollout
of
a
“supervised”
version
of
FSD
in
China
is
“extremely
unlikely.”

She
pointed
to
challenges
for
Tesla
to
support
local
operation
of
the
software
as
a
foreign
entity
in
China.
Li
said
there’s
“no
strategic
value”
for
Beijing
to
support
FSD’s
domestic
rollout
when
there
are
many
high-quality
local
alternatives,
such
as


Xpeng‘s

driver-assist
software.

Premier
Li
visited
Xpeng
and
other
companies
at
the
Beijing
auto
show
on
Sunday,
and
called
for
innovation
and
demand
to
drive
production,

according
to
state
media.

Tesla
is
not
exhibiting
at
this
year’s
auto
show,
as
has
been
the
case
since
a
protester
stood
on
one
of
its
cars
during
the

auto
show
in
Shanghai
in
2021.
The
show
alternates
between
Beijing
and
Shanghai
on
an
annual
basis,
and
wasn’t
held
in
2022
due
to
the
Covid-19
pandemic.