Tesla China expecting full FSD approval in Q1 2026: Elon Musk

Max Headroom 2025.11.08 2 min read

Elon Musk has provided a concrete estimated date for Full Self-Driving’s (FSD) full approval in China. While a version of the system has been deployed to some users in China, the company only holds partial approval for FSD features in the country.

The CEO shared the update during Tesla’s Annual Shareholder Meeting, where stockholders also voted to approve Elon Musk’s ambitious 2025 performance award.

Elon Musk’s China FSD update

During the meeting, Elon Musk stated that Tesla expects to secure full regulatory approval for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system in China by February or March 2026. This would mark a potential breakthrough in one of the world’s most competitive EV markets.

“We have partial approval in China, and we hopefully will have full approval in China around February or March or so. That’s what they’ve told us,” Musk said.

Tesla’s rollout of FSD features in China began in February 2025 under update 2024.45.32.12, which introduced what the company locally called “Autopilot automatic assisted driving on urban roads.” While not officially branded as FSD, the feature mirrored Tesla’s inner-city capabilities.

Positive feedback from China

Feedback from local drivers suggests strong real-world performance for the company’s “Autopilot automatic assisted driving on urban roads” feature. One driver who used the system for two months described it as “well-calibrated and human-like,” adding that it “slows appropriately on narrow streets and picks up speed on major roads.” The Tesla owner further reported zero safety interventions over his testing period, calling the system “almost too polite” when encountering pedestrians and scooters.

A Tesla Model 3 driver was also able to drive to the base camp of Mount Everest from Henan Province, a journey of about 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles), using “Autopilot automatic assisted driving on urban roads.” The driver’s trip was livestreamed on Chinese social media, where it attracted a lot of interest from viewers.

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