On September 16, it was reported that Tesla seems to be steadily advancing its full self-driving (FSD) system in China, according to foreign news reports.
This is hinted at by recent observations from Tesla watchers in China, who have said that some Chinese-made Tesla vehicles have been updated with a button to enable FSD (supervision).
Over the weekend, industry observers took to social media to share images of the FSD (supervised) button (which is still disabled). According to images shared so far, the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) button in China is located in the same menu as Traffic Aware Cruise Control and Autonomous Driving (beta), similar to vehicles in North America.
Interestingly, screenshots from the Tesla community in China show that FSD (Supervised) needs to update the navigation map to enable it. The message also states that the updated navigation map requires a Wi-Fi connection to download.
Seeing the FSD (Supervision) button on Tesla cars in China, members of the EV community are optimistic. After all, China is a market eagerly awaiting the release of Tesla's advanced driver assistance systems. Even Tesla's rival Xpeng Motors has said they are looking forward to the launch of FSD in China.
Reports from China in the past few months have shown that Tesla is working hard to prepare for the launch of FSD in China. During Elon · Musk's surprise visit to China at the end of April, China announced that Tesla, as well as other automakers such as BYD, had met all of China's data processing requirements. Tesla also has a navigation and map data deal with Baidu.
As of June, local reports were that Shanghai Nanhui New Town was pushing 10 Tesla vehicles for the FSD pilot program. Elon · Musk also noted in Tesla's Q2 2024 earnings call that he expects FSD to be approved in China by the end of the year.