Tesla shares climbed substantially in premarket trading in the United States on Monday after the electric car maker reached a critical milestone in its rollout of complete self-driving technology in China.
The company’s stock was up 7.59% as of 6:02 a.m. ET, as investors reacted to news of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s travel to China.
Tesla said on Sunday that local Chinese officials lifted limitations on its vehicles after they met the country’s data security standards. The action prompted hopes that Tesla’s driver-assistance software, Full Self Driving, will soon be available in the UK, which is the largest market for electric cars.
While Tesla’s electric vehicles are among the most popular in China, they have apparently been barred from certain government-owned sites due to data security concerns.
Separately, the Biden administration announced earlier this year that it would investigate whether imported Chinese cars pose national security risks due to their potential to collect sensitive data.
Full Self Driving is an improvement to Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance system. Tesla has been offering its FSD technology in China for years, but with a limited feature set that restricts it to functions like autonomous lane shifting.
Data security issues have been a major impediment to Tesla’s full rollout of the system in China.
This breaking news article is currently being updated.
