cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/29808568
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[Tesla owner Elon Musk’s close involvement in the new U.S. administration could have a] potentially adverse side effect as China considers using Tesla as a pawn in trade negotiations.
Tesla car sales were flat in 2024, and to maintain its astronomic valuation, Musk has bet the automaker’s entire future on autonomy, both in the form of self-driving cars and humanoid robots, seeing them as a much more lucrative opportunity than the low-margin traditional business of selling cars. He now spends most of Tesla’s earnings calls talking up a future in which autonomous fleets of “Cybercabs” will roam the streets and replace human drivers. The company has slowly been rolling out its Full-Self Driving (FSD) tech through an optional add-on for current Tesla owners, with plans to begin testing a fully autonomous taxi service in Austin sometime this year.
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China is Tesla’s second biggest market, however, and the country has heretofore not allowed it to begin rolling out autonomous technology there. President Trump’s recent move to place 10% tariffs on goods exported from China has created an opportunity for the country to use the president’s confidant as leverage. From the Financial Times:
Chinese authorities are contemplating using the approval of Tesla’s autonomous-driving licence as a bargaining chip in trade negotiations with Trump, said two of the people with knowledge of the delay, adding that this was the main reason for the hold-up in granting the permit.
The approval could still come soon, depending on how trade negotiations developed, one of the people added. But another said that some people at the company believed a speedy consent was unlikely unless there was “a major breakthrough or concession” in trade talks.
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