Tesla's Self-Driving Ambitions Face Hurdles in China Amid US-China Trade Tensions and Rising Competition

Tesla's Self-Driving Ambitions In China At Risk As US-China Trade War Heats Up: 'It's A Bit Of A Quandary,' Says Elon Musk - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), BYD (OTC:BYDDY)

Tesla Inc. TSLA is reportedly experiencing a delay in obtaining approval for its autonomous driving technology in China, a setback attributed to the ongoing trade war between the US and China. What Happened: Chinese authorities might leverage the approval of Tesla's self-driving license as a negotiation chip in trade talks with the U.S., a strategic maneuver believed to be the primary reason for the delay, reported the Financial Times on Monday. Despite earlier indications of Tesla receiving a license for extensive training of its Full Self-Driving Beta in the second quarter of 2025, the company has now been informed of an indefinite timeline. Tesla's attempts to launch its FSD system in the Chinese market have been ongoing, with last year's reports hinting at an impending deal. In Tesla's recent earnings call, CEO Elon Musk voiced his concerns about the FSD prospects in China, pointing to data transfer restrictions between the two nations. "They won't currently allow us to transfer training video outside of China. And then the U.S. government won't let us do training in China. It's a bit of a quandary," stated Musk. As a result, Tesla is instead training its system using publicly available videos of Chinese streets and simulation tools. Despite these hurdles, Musk remains optimistic, stating that Tesla aims to achieve unsupervised self-driving in China by the end of the next year. SEE MORE: Xi Jinping's Supportive Appearance Sparks Chinese Tech Rally For Second Day: Alibaba, Xiaomi Surge Over 4% On Hong Kong Exchange Why It Matters: Tesla's challenges in China are not new. In 2022, the Chinese government began barring Tesla cars from certain areas over national security concerns. The ban was extended to the Beidaihe district for two months during the Communist Party's annual summer retreat. It also faced a ban near military complexes during President Xi Jinping's visit to Chengdu. Meanwhile, the landscape for autonomous cars in China has been heating up, with Tesla rivals BYD Co. Ltd. BYDDY and Huawei making advancements. BYD rolled out its "God's Eye" advanced driver assistance system across all its models, including the budget-friendly Seagull hatchback, starting at around $9,600. Moreover, Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management highlighted that all these competitors "use LIDAR" technology, compared to Tesla's camera-only system. Despite these hurdles, Tesla has continued its operations in China. The company announced on Monday that it had started production of its refreshed Model Y at its Shanghai gigafactory, with deliveries expected to start soon. The ongoing trade tensions and the delay in FSD approval highlight the complexities Tesla faces in the Chinese market. Tesla stock dropped more than 16% in a month to close at $355.84 on Friday. READ MORE: Elon Musk Has A Frosty Relationship With Dad Errol But Last Year Gifted Him A Luxury Car That Was Surprisingly Not A Tesla -- Here's Why Image via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. BYDDYBYD Co Ltd$93.38-%WatchlistOverviewTSLATesla Inc$354.00-0.52%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Tesla Stock Is Tumbling Tuesday: What's Driving The Action? - Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla Inc TSLA shares are trading lower Tuesday after competitor BYD Co BYDDF announced plans to include self-driving technology in its vehicles. What To Know: At a China-based launch event late Monday, BYD founder and chairman Wang Chuanfu announced that advanced smart driving will become a standard feature on BYD cars, according to CNBC. BYD previously took a more cautious approach to autonomous vehicles, but now appears to be leaning into the technology. Tesla shares traded lower on the news as the Elon Musk-led company is seen as one of the leaders in autonomous driving technology. It's worth noting that BYD overtook Tesla as the world's largest battery electric vehicle seller in the fourth quarter. At the event on Monday, BYD said it will release the "DiPilot" assisted driving system across its entire vehicle lineup. The company's low-cost vehicle priced at 69,800 yuan ($9,555) will include the assisted driving system making the company the first automaker in China to offer self-driving technology for a vehicle priced below 70,000 yuan. BYD also announced that it will integrate AI capabilities from Chinese startup DeepSeek, who reportedly developed an open-source LLM in a couple of months at a much lower cost than competitors. The China-based automaker expects the self-driving technology to improve safety and the AI implementation to help improve the technology over time. Check This Out: BYD's 'God's Eye' And Huawei's Autonomous Driving Progress Spark Concerns For Tesla: Ross Gerber Points Out, 'All Use LIDAR' The report indicates that BYD launched more than 20 models with its new driver-assistance technology on Monday. Meanwhile, Tesla on Monday announced that it's "still on track" to launch autonomous ride-hailing services in Austin in June. Musk said in a post on X that the EV maker remains on track to roll out the offering to "many cities" across the U.S. later this year. "The threshold is achieving safety far in excess of the average human driver ... Ultimately autonomous," Musk said. Tesla's Full-Self Driving has not yet been approved in China. Musk previously said it could be available as soon as the end of 2024. On an earnings call last month, the Tesla chief said the delays were due to local restrictions that make it difficult to quickly develop a compliant version of the system. "2025 will be a seminal year in Tesla's history as FSD (Supervised) continues to rapidly improve with the aim of ultimately exceeding human levels of safety," the company said in the release. TSLA Price Action: Tesla shares were down 5.60% at $331.17 at the time of publication Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro. Photo: courtesy of Tesla. TSLATesla Inc$332.65-5.15%Overview Rating:Good62.5%Technicals Analysis1000100Financials Analysis400100WatchlistOverviewBYDDFBYD Co Ltd$42.38-2.53%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

BYD's 'God's Eye' And Huawei's Autonomous Driving Progress Spark Concerns For Tesla: Ross Gerber Points Out, 'All Use LIDAR' - Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), BYD (OTC:BYDDY)

Prominent Tesla Inc. TSLA investors are weighing in on the increasingly competitive autonomous driving landscape as Chinese rivals BYD Co. Ltd. BYDDY and Huawei advance their driver assistance systems, challenging Tesla's vision-only approach. What Happened: Ross Gerber, CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management, highlighted a key technical distinction in the autonomous driving race, noting on X that all major competitors "use LIDAR" technology, contrasting with Tesla's camera-only system. His observation comes amid recent concerns about Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) system's limitations, including its vulnerability to dust, ash, and sun glare. Gary Black, managing partner of The Future Fund LLC, suggests that autonomous driving is becoming "commoditized" rather than a winner-take-all market. "We own TSLA as the global EV leader as EV adoption soars, and we get upside from unsupervised autonomy and Optimus. But we don't own TSLA because of any misplaced view it will take 100% share of ride sharing," Black stated on X. See Also: iOS 18.3.1 Released With Critical Security Fix: Apple Confirms USB Restricted Mode Vulnerability Was Actively Exploited Why It Matters: The debate intensifies as BYD introduces its "God's Eye" advanced driver assistance system across its entire lineup, including its budget Seagull hatchback priced at approximately $9,600. Meanwhile, Huawei's Qiankun ADS 3.2 system, demonstrated in recent reviews, has shown promising performance in complex urban environments, featuring HD map-free smart driving and omnidirectional collision avoidance capabilities. Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to defend the company's vision-only approach, recently stating, "Obviously, humans drive without shooting lasers out of their eyes." However, this stance faces scrutiny as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigates 2.6 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD technology. Read Next: Trump's 25% Tariffs A 'Self-Inflicted Wound,' Says Economist Amid Warnings Of Fewer American Jobs -- Peter Schiff Says You'll Pay More For Cars And Homes Image Via Shutterstock Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. BYDDYBYD Co Ltd$86.622.47%WatchlistOverviewGOOGLAlphabet Inc$185.990.35%TSLATesla Inc$347.61-3.87%UBERUber Technologies Inc$78.585.34%Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs