Tesla (TSLA) has finally expanded its Full Self-Driving (FSD) software outside of North America. The automaker started rolling out FSD v13 to its Chinese customers yesterday.
The Chinese FSD v13 firmware version is 2024.45.32.12. This is a middle version between FSD v13.2.6 and v13.2.7. The screenshots posted on social media are in Chinese language and don’t mention the specific point release version. However, it can still be attributed as FSD v13.2.6 because the firmware version is closer to this release.
Last year in September, Tesla laid out an FSD rollout roadmap. In the roadmap, Tesla announced that it plans to launch FSD in China and Europe in Q1 2025.
The FSD launch in these regions was tied to regulatory approval. Tesla has obtained approval to run FSD in China. However, Europe is far behind in this regard and it does not seem possible to launch FSD in the western continent in the first quarter of this year.
Challenges in FSD China Launch
During the Q4 2024 Earnings Call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained the challenges of launching FSD in detail. In short, the Tesla neural network that powers Autopilot Vision AI is trained on videos from Tesla vehicles in the United States and Canada.
Due to the trade and data security rift between China and the US, regulations restricted Tesla from feeding Chinese Tesla vehicle videos to its US neural net data center. The tech automaker had to rely on publicly available videos of Chinese roads and traffic to train the neural net.
The recent videos of FSD (Supervised) v13 emerging from China are impressive, as Autopilot is performing well on Chinese roads being a first-timer.
China is a huge market for automotive and high-tech products. If Tesla convinces Chinese customers to buy or subscribe to FSD, there will be a huge surplus in revenue in the next three quarters of this year and in the coming years as well.
Tesla China is calling it ‘City Autopilot‘ in the country. Regulatory compliances might be the factor in using this name in China.
First Impressions Videos
Chinese FSD v13 users have stormed the social media with videos of their first experience of Tesla’s newly launched self-driving feature.
The road signs, markings, the environmental factors, human behavior, and vulnerable road users (VRUs) change the dynamics for Tesla FSD in China.
However, in this initial phase of the rollout, Tesla FSD is performing good on Chinese roads. Tesla bringing FSD to China is a big news for investors and enthusiasts as it has expanded Tesla’s AI and self-driving horizon beyond North America.
$TSLA
— Tsla Chan (@Tslachan) February 26, 2025
How to avoid reverse three-wheelers, FSD in China pic.twitter.com/LTtkD8Wyv9
FSD smart driving at night in China 🇨🇳#FSD #SelfDriving $tsla @TeslaZoa @zhongwen2005 @TeslaNewswire @SERobinsonJr @ray4tesla pic.twitter.com/Fu2j8Wi7Yu
— DriveGreenLiveGreen (@DriveGreen80167) February 25, 2025
FSD IN CHINA drive into the underground parking garage pic.twitter.com/DuriVrIjhN
— Veo (@Veowow) February 25, 2025
$TSLA
— Tsla Chan (@Tslachan) February 25, 2025
Hell yeah!. First FSD U-turn in China. pic.twitter.com/9GCSujGQDN
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Related Autopilot / FSD News
- Tesla FSD v13 performs unexpectedly well on unmarked Chinese roads (video)
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- Tesla FSD v13.2.7 (2024.45.32.15) rollout gets wider (review videos)
- FSD v12.6.3 is the best version for HW3/AI3 Tesla cars yet (review videos)
 launches Full Self-Driving (FSD) v13 in China as promised last year in its roadmap. Chinese beta testers post their first impressions videos of the system.){kind=link}