Tesla says FSD is “available” in China. What does that actually mean?

Wednesday evening, Tesla declared on X that its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) technology is “now available” in a number of countries, including its second-biggest market, China — news that prompted a fresh round of headlines.

The thing is, while a limited version of Tesla’s supervised FSD has been available in China since last year, it’s not clear regulators have approved the full suite of technology there. As Tesla commentator Sawyer Merritt pointed out, Tesla’s website has described FSD as “available” in China since last year, where it’s known as “Intelligent Assisted Driving.” Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the agency that oversees autonomous driving permissions, has not publicly issued a statement detailing any new approvals.

According to Chinese media Ningbo Evening News, a reporter posing as a customer contacted Tesla customer service in China asking about FSD and was told, “The company is actively advancing the approval process in accordance with relevant national regulatory requirements.”

Tesla itself has said it isn’t expecting approval until the third quarter.

“The broader approval is still not there, but we’re working with the regulators in the country, and we’re hoping that we can get approval by Q3,” CFO Vaibhav Taneja said on the company’s earnings call last month. “With these approvals coming through, we expect the broader adoption of the software in the existing fleet and incremental demand for our vehicles.”

Tesla’s announcement came after CEO Elon Musk traveled to China last week amid ongoing trade discussions between the US and China. Tesla has been struggling to compete with EV rivals in China, some of which already have approval for autonomous driving operations, and Musk has said it’s essential for his company’s next stage of growth there. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.