Tesla was recently granted permission to test FSD on Chinese streets – specifically in Shanghai. Just recently, Elon Musk visited China and discussed the potential for FSD to come to China.
Gearing Up for FSD China
This is just the first step for Tesla to begin its customer deployments of FSD – Tesla conducts similar ADAS testing in North America, where special testing vehicles and testing employees run the latest FSD (Supervised) versions against a gamut of real-world, real-life tests.
Tesla has recently been working on translating FSD release notes into multiple languages, alongside building a data center in Shanghai and establishing an FSD Operations and Labelling team at the same center. These are the first, key steps to bringing FSD to a new market that has unique and different traffic rules when compared North America.
China doesn’t have the regulatory hurdles or challenges that Tesla faces in Europe to bring FSD and has been working with Chinese corporations as well as the government, which has now provided its official approval for FSD testing in-country.
We might even see FSD deployed to early testing customers in China by the end of 2025.
ADAS Competitors
There are quite a few competitors in the Chinese market already- with challengers like Xpeng and Xiaomi working on building their own homegrown systems, mostly driven by a mixture of cameras, radars, ultrasonic sensors, and LIDAR. However, many of these systems face similar challenges to other non-Chinese competitors and don’t have the mileage under their belts to tackle Tesla’s dominating lead in data and data processing.
European Union
Tesla is poising itself for an FSD rollout internationally, with increased testing also taking place in the UK, France, and Spain – some of the key locations with unique infrastructure in the European Union. However, some EU-specific regulations restrict how FSD can perform – each and every action must be manually approved by the driver. Until that regulation is changed to adapt to systems like FSD, it won’t be making its way there just yet.
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Tesla has long equipped its vehicles with LTE (4G) modems, including the new Model Y, Cybertruck, and new Model 3. However, all three models now appear to be transitioning to a new, 5G-capable modem.
This marks a first for Tesla, and it’s likely that the upgraded modem will be integrated into newly manufactured vehicles as supplies become available. The modem, listed as “TELEMATICS CONTROL UNIT - TCU - GEN II,” was spotted in Tesla’s Electronic Parts Catalog (EPC) by well-known Tesla hacker Green on X.
Faster Speeds, Where Possible
5G coverage remains limited in many areas, with rural and suburban regions still relying on LTE—or even 3G in some cases. Since around 2018, every modern Tesla has been equipped with the Gen I modem, which supports LTE speeds ranging from 20 Mbps on the low end to 100 Mbps at peak performance.
The new Gen II modem, where supported, will enable 5G speeds of up to 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps). While this will be most effective in urban areas with dense 5G transmitter coverage, it will also benefit some well-developed suburban regions.
New Model Y
Interestingly, the new Model Y may come with either a Gen I or Gen II TCU, meaning buyers won’t know which modem they’re getting until they receive the vehicle. Green confirmed on X that both the LTE-equipped Gen I unit and the new 5G-capable unit are valid configurations for the new Model Y.
Retrofits
Not a Tesla App
While Tesla now offers direct-to-customer parts sales, the EPC does not list a price for either the LTE or 5G-capable TCUs. This is because these units require programming by Tesla Service or a trained technician and must be paired with a SIM card linked to the vehicle’s VIN.
Although the hardware swap itself is expected to be relatively straightforward, this isn’t something owners can retrofit on their own. However, Tesla may offer a retrofit service in the future. For now, with parts still in limited supply, pricing remains uncertain.
If 5G support becomes essential, you might be able to request a TCU retrofit through Tesla Service in the coming months as availability improves.
When Tesla vehicles were equipped with 3G-only modems, Tesla offered a paid retrofit to an LTE-capable modem, but this was mostly due to AT&T shutting off their 3G network, and these vehicles would lose their cellular connection otherwise.
Ultimately, this news of the 5G modem confirms that Tesla remains committed to cellular connectivity in its vehicles—at least for now. Direct-to-satellite Starlink support isn’t here yet, but we’re still hoping for it in the future. Until then, a Starlink Mini strapped to your Tesla’s glass roof remains a solid alternative.
A series of articles on Sina Finance, a leading Chinese finance news organization, recently reported that Tesla’s FSD would soon start rolling out in China. Although there have also been reports of delays, Tesla appears to have finally addressed those regulatory issues as it has now officially started rolling out FSD in China.
FSD is being enabled with software update 2024.45.32.12 to owners who have purchased FSD outright. However, it isn’t clear whether this is exactly the same FSD as North Americans know it.
Urban Road Autopilot Assistance
This software update introduces “Urban Road Autopilot Assistance” (let’s call it URAA for short), an FSD-based driver-assistance system for Chinese Tesla owners. On controlled-access highways and urban roads, URAA guides vehicles according to navigation routes, assisting with entering and exiting highways, navigating intersections, and recognizing traffic lights to perform actions like going straight, turning left or right, or making U-turns.
Same FSD as North America?
While URAA shares many similarities with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving based on the information Tesla released, it’s not clear whether its functionality is exactly the same. It could just be FSD under a different name, or it could be slightly different.
Based on initial videos (shown below), FSD looks very capable and similar to what we’re used to. In the video, you can see the vehicle using its turn signals to go around vehicles, stopping at red lights, and making turns. It also slows down appropriately when there are pedestrians nearby. If there are differences between North American “FSD” and URAA, Tesla doesn’t make it clear what they are.
It appears that FSD in China is trained on its own set of data, as China did not want Tesla to use data from other countries to train their system, so there could be some limitations or differences between what’s available in North America and China. However, it’s also possible that it’s just a name change and Tesla was not allowed to use the term “Full Self-Driving" in China.
The full suite of FSD visualizations are also available in China with this update. They appear to be the same ones available in North America and we haven’t been able to detect any differences so far. However, it’s great to see additional owners being able to experience them for the first time.
Navigation Update
In September 2024, Tesla added the FSD option in Chinese vehicles, but it was just greyed out and required a navigation update. With this FSD update going out, Tesla is also requiring users to update the navigation maps to version CN-2025.8 before FSD can be enabled.
Most Teslas Now Have Access to FSD
This is Tesla’s first release of FSD outside of North America, which millions of customers have been waiting to see. Just recently, Tesla released FSD in Mexico, and before that, it expanded it to Puerto Rico, making it now available in four countries. Since North America and China are Tesla’s two largest markets, Tesla’s FSD is now available to the majority of Tesla owners, the first time this has happened.
While Tesla initially faced difficulty in getting regulatory approval in China due to data transmission laws, it appears Tesla is making progress with regulatory laws outside of the United States. Europe and Oceania are the next two phases for FSD, with Europe likely coming first due to it being a left-hand drive market.
While it’s not surprising to see FSD released in China, we expected more of a hold-up due to Chinese laws, so this is an encouraging sign of Tesla being able to work around country-specific laws.
In Tesla’s 2024 roadmap, Tesla said that it’d release FSD in China and Europe in Q1 2025, which it has partially achieved. The next step appears to be Europe, where many users are anxiously awaiting.
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