Today (April 28th), it was reported that Tesla CEO Musk took his private plane to China and landed in the capital city of Beijing.

According to the report, according to flight tracking software, Musk's private plane (Gulfstream G550, registration number N272BG) landed at Beijing Capital Airport on Sunday at 0603 Greenwich Mean Time (14:30 Beijing time). Musk currently owns two private Gulfstream aircraft, and the other Gulfstream G650ER with registration number N628TS.

Musk is seeking to meet with senior Chinese officials in Beijing to discuss the launch of a fully automated driving (FSD) service in China, and hopes to get approval to transfer the data it collects in China abroad to train algorithms for autonomous driving technology, according to people familiar with the matter.

Since 2021, Tesla has stored all the data it collects on Chinese cars in Shanghai, as required by Chinese regulators, and cannot transmit any data back to the United States.

Speculation that the purpose of Musk's trip is to launch FSD in China is not groundless, as Tesla has recently shown signs of "blowing" on the matter.

Earlier this month, Musk said in response to questions from netizens on X that Tesla may provide FSD to Chinese customers "soon."

On Friday (April 26th), People's Daily's self media account "People's Online Review" published a comment on Tesla Vice President Tao Lin's comments on autonomous driving. Tao Lin stated that Tesla has been deeply rooted in the field of autonomous driving for many years, leading the industry in terms of computing power, fleet, data, and training models.

Tao Lin further stated that the development of autonomous driving technology will promote the upgrading and innovation of related industries, including sensor technology, artificial intelligence algorithms, big data processing and other fields. This not only brings technological progress to autonomous driving vehicles themselves, but also provides impetus for the intelligent upgrading of the entire automotive industry chain.

Currently, Tesla mainly promotes its FSD services in North America. Earlier this month, Tesla lowered the FSD subscription price in the United States to $99 per month and the purchase price from $12,000 to $8,000. Musk also revealed during the latest earnings conference call that Tesla is currently in discussions with a major automaker regarding FSD licensing matters.

It is worth noting that Musk's trip coincides with the Beijing Auto Show, which opened last week and will continue until May 4th.

Since the opening of the Beijing Auto Show this year, executives from a number of Chinese and foreign auto companies have appeared on the scene, with the most popular being Xiaomi's Lei Jun. There is no Tesla at the Beijing Auto Show this year, so it's hard to say whether Musk will make an appearance at the Beijing Auto Show.

Tesla has not participated in any Chinese auto shows since 2021. At the Shanghai Auto Show, Tesla encountered a car owner's rights infringement incident, with a car owner wearing a T-shirt with the words "brake failure" standing on the top of Tesla's roof to defend their rights. This incident has caused Tesla to face an unprecedented security crisis in China.