In what could turn out to be a major setback for the company, Tesla is pausing its free, limited-time trial of its misleadingly-named Full Self-Driving driver software in China.
As Reuters reports, the Elon Musk-led carmaker is still planning on releasing the feature pending regulatory approval — which appears to be more difficult to secure than Tesla anticipated.
For one, China's tight grip on training data for the AI that controls Tesla's FSD system is making it more difficult to refine, especially compared to the United States, where such data is readily available.
"All parties are actively advancing the relevant process and we will push it to you as soon as it is ready," Tesla's customer support account wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo, as translated by Reuters. "We are also looking forward to it, please wait patiently."
It's possible that the pause has to do with its poor performance so far. Tesla drivers who had been testing the software before it was paused on Chinese streets had been racking up fines for driving in bike lanes, making illegal turns, and running red lights, as Electrek reported last month.
It's a significant roadblock for the company. Musk has bet much of the company's future on the fulfillment of his decade-long promise of realizing self-driving vehicles — but given the many collisions and even deaths related to the software, the company still has a lot of work to do.
The company is also anticipating releasing a "Cybercab" autonomous taxi, whose fate will depend on the software's successful rollout.
Tesla may be learning the difficulty of complying with China's strict data laws. For instance, China's industry ministry now requires that any over-the-air software updates related to autonomous driving will have to pass regulatory approval first.
If Tesla were to roll out such an update — which it has done numerous times in the US and elsewhere — it would have to first "immediately stop the manufacture and sales of defective automobile products" until it receives approval from regulators, according to the mandate, which was announced last month.
The story couldn't be more different in the US. Musk has amassed a tremendous amount of influence in the White House, raising concerns over massive conflicts of interest. The Trump administration is expected to roll back autonomous car crash report data requirements, alleviating regulatory pressure on the EV maker.
Trump himself has even personally advertised Tesla's offerings in front of the White House, in a baffling and desperate attempt to prop up for a company that's facing a cataclysmic financial year.
However, Chinese regulators aren't bending over backward. Tesla's competition has surged there, with BYD leapfrogging Tesla on revenue by passing the $100 billion mark in sales last year. Tesla's China-made EV sales fell a considerable 11.5 percent in January, year over year.
It's still possible Tesla is on track for releasing a full version of its FSD software sometime this year. But given the fact that it's already encountering regulatory hurdles, there could be even more trouble ahead for the feature.
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