After a long-awaited, albeit partial, introduction to the Chinese market on 25 February 2025, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta is encountering more than a few speed bumps. The feature-limited version of the software is struggling to adapt to the country’s roads, with some drivers being racked with multiple fines within a single session.
Since the paid service launched, Chinese social media has been lit up with reports of driver-assist errors and fines. Most notably, local car blogger Chen Zhen shared footage on Weibo of his Tesla earning seven fines in a single FSD Beta test drive. Among the violations were instances of the car occupying bicycle lanes, crossing solid lines, and driving straight through lanes meant for turning.
State-owned news outlet Shine (formerly the Shanghai Daily) also recently pitted Tesla’s technology against offerings from local brands Li Auto and Aito. While all three were prone to substantial mistakes, Tesla performed noticeably worse. In a single session, Tesla’s FSD was responsible for 34 traffic violations and required 24 driver interventions. By contrast, Li Auto’s L7 was responsible for 14 violations and required nine interventions, and Aito’s M9 had 14 violations and 12 interventions.
Reuters reported the day after the system went live that the feature had already “fallen short” of local driver’s expectations. The outlet quoted a local driver, Lu Panpan, as having paid CN¥56,000 (US$7,720) for the software, only to experience “a knowingly restricted system”. “It is has for Tesla to catch up with the smart-driving capabilities in Chinese cars, which makes even less sense given its high pricing,” Panpan was quoted as saying.
Tesla’s Chief Executive Elon Musk has acknowledged that the technology does not do well with certain aspects of China’s road system—specifically its bus lanes. “One of the biggest challenges in setting up FSD in China is bus lanes. There are specific hours when you can or cannot drive, and if you accidentally enter a bus lane during a prohibited time—you will instantly get a fine. This is a really serious problem in China,” he warned in January 2025.
He also noted that the automaker’s struggles to adapt to Chinese roads are no accident, but a result of restrictions on its ability to transfer data and conduct local testing. A 27 February report by The Financial Times claimed that Chinese regulators are holding full regulatory approval of Tesla’s FSD Beta as leverage in wider trade negotiations with the US.
