Investing.com – Shares of Tesla (NASDAQ:) soared on Thursday after the company announced plans to launch its so-called “fully self-driving” advanced driver assistance software in China and Europe next year, should it receive regulatory approval.
In a post on social media, Tesla AI, a subsidiary of the electric car maker, laid out a release roadmap that includes the possible rollout of full self-driving – or FSD – technology in the two regions in the first quarter of 2025. CEO Elon Musk had previously said he expected FSD to be unveiled in Europe, China and elsewhere by the end of this year.
FSD is currently available to customers in the US and Canada, although it is subject to heavy legal and regulatory controls. In a note to customers on Wednesday, Piper Sandler analysts said it is “worth checking” whether there is a “performance gap” between the FSD system on Tesla’s third-generation and more recent fourth-generation hardware. But they said that if Tesla can “solve FSD,” they don’t believe “investors will care.”
The launch of FSD is seen as particularly crucial in the lucrative and highly competitive Chinese car market, where Tesla is racing to keep up with similar driver assistance systems being developed by domestic rivals. China is the U.S. company’s largest foreign market, though it has been hit by weak economic activity and gloomy consumer confidence in the country, as well as a protracted price war.
Earlier this week, Tesla said it sold 63,000 cars in China in August – its best month so far this year, but still likely lower than the total of 64,694 cars sold in the same month in 2023. The return was also well below that from BYD (SZ:), the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, which posted a 35% increase in passenger car sales in China in August to a monthly record of 370,854.
Tesla rose more than 4% in recent Thursday trading.
(Scott Kanowsky contributed to this story)
