Elon Musk visits China, likely to promote Tesla's driverless tech: Report

NEW DELHI: Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made an "unannounced and surprising" visit to Beijing, according to a media report on Sunday.

Musk's visit has raised hopes for bringing Tesla's autopilot and supervised full self-driving (FSD) technology to China, known to be the electric vehicle maker’s second-biggest market, the South China Morning Post reported.

This comes as China looks to increase the adoption of advanced driver-assistance systems and higher levels of autonomous driving functions in mass-produced cars.

Musk had in a recent post on X.com noted that Tesla will make FSD available to customers in China "very soon”.

Tesla rolled out FSD, the most autonomous version of its Autopilot software, four years ago but the technology is yet to be available in China.

Musk's latest visit also coincides with the ongoing 2024 Beijing Auto Show, the report said.

Musk was earlier, this month, expected to visit India, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, the tech billionaire scrapped the plan amid crucial Tesla quarterly results and will possibly visit the country later this year to announce his investment plans.

In a post on X, the billionaire said that unfortunately, "very heavy Tesla obligations require that the visit to India be delayed."

"But I do very much look forward to visiting later this year," Musk added.