Chinese state media reported that he met with Prime Minister Li Qiag in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla’s development in China could be considered as a successful example of economic and commercial cooperation between the United States and China.

“I hope to meet with Prime Minister Li Qiag. We have known each other for many years, since the first days of Shaghai,” Musk published on the social media platform X, while appearing in a photo with the prime minister.

Tesla reached an agreement with the Chinese authorities for a platform in Shaghai, the first outside the United States, in 2018.

The American manufacturer of electric vehicles launched FSD, the most autonomous version of its Autopilot software, four years ago, but has not yet made it available in China, its second largest market worldwide, despite customer demand.

Musk said this month that Tesla could make the FSD available to customers in response “very soon” to an X consultation.

Wedgush’s actions analysts described the surprise visit as “an important moment for Tesla.”

“While Tesla’s long -term valuation history points to FSD and Autonomous, a key piece in that puzzle is that Tesla is making FSD available in China, which now seems to be just around the corner,” Wedbush said in a report of the company sent by email.

Rival Chinese car manufacturers, such as XPEпG9868.hk, have been trying to obtain an advantage over Tesla by launching similar software.

Musk also met with Hogbip representative, a government official who runs the Chinese Council for the Promotion of International Trade, organizer of the Automotive Fair, state media reported.

“It is good to see that electric vehicles are advancing in China. All cars will be electric in the future,” Musk said in a video posted on social networks by a user affiliated with state media.

Late on Saturday, an important Chinese automobile association published a list of 76 car models that said they had tried and found that they met China’s safety requirements, including Model and 3 Tesla cars.

Musk’s trip occurred just over a week after he canceled an scheduled visit to India to meet with Prime Minister Nairadhi Modi, citing “very heavy obligations of Tesla”.

The company said this month that it would fire 10% of its global workforce while dealing with the fall of sales and an imminent price war for electric vehicles led by Chinese brands.

The United States automotive security regulators said Friday that they had opened an investigation to determine whether the market withdrawal of more than 2 million Tesla vehicles in the United States, scheduled in December to install new automatic pilot security measures, was adequate after a series of accidents.

Tesla has sold more than 1.7 million cars in China since she broke into the market a decade ago and the Shanghai factory is the largest in the world.

China’s complicated traffic conditions, with more pedestrians and cyclists than in other markets, offer more scenarios that are key to training autonomous driving algorithms at a faster rate, according to industry experts.

Musk said last week that Tesla would introduce new cheaper models of his current platforms of electric vehicles and production styles and that he would offer a new “robotaxi” with autonomous driving technology. He said on August 8 that he would reveal the Robotaxi.

Tesla’s shares have lost almost a third of their value since the beginning of the year, since investors have been concerned about the growth trajectory of the manufacturer of electric vehicles. Last week, Tesla reported its first drop in quarterly income since 2020, when Covid-19 pandemic decelerated production and deliveries.