Exclusive-Musk pushes plan for China data to power Tesla's AI ambitions

livemint.com:

Tesla has been developing plans for a data center in China to train the algorithm needed for more fully autonomous vehicles, according two people, who asked not to be named because the work remains private. Until recently, Tesla has focused on efforts to secure approval from Chinese regulators to transfer data generated by its EVs in China out of the country for its “Full Self Driving" (FSD) system, according to the two people and an additional person with knowledge of the matter. It was not clear if Tesla would proceed with both options for handling self-driving data from China - data transfer and a local data center - or if it was developing parallel plans as a hedge.

Tesla's efforts underscore the speed of the electric vehicle maker’s pivot to bet on a breakthrough in AI at a time when EV demand has slowed and its competition has deepened. Its push to make fuller use of data from vehicles in China to develop the automaker's artificial intelligence for driving comes as the U.S. government has tried to clamp down on the transfer of AI technology from U.S.

firms to China. Tesla has not been able to offer the full version of FSD, which costs the equivalent of almost $9,000, in China. A wider market for FSD in China would give a boost to the automaker's revenue and profits at a time when both are getting squeezed by pressure from Chinese rivals such as BYD.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Setting up a data center in China for FSD development would require Tesla to work with a Chinese partner, two of the sources said. There is also a potential hardware-sourcing challenge.