Finance

Musk visits Beijing as Tesla’s China-made cars pass security rules

Published

12 months ago

April 29, 2024

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France, on June 16, 2023.

Gonzalo Fuentes | Reuters

BEIJING — Local Chinese authorities have removed restrictions on Tesla cars after the company’s China-made vehicles passed the country’s data security requirements, the automaker said Sunday.

The breakthrough came as Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing for an unexpected meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, amid the first major auto show in the city in four years.

Although Tesla’s electric cars are some of the most popular vehicles in China, they have reportedly been banned from some government-related properties due to concerns about what data the U.S.-based automaker can collect.

Tesla’s press release did not specify which local authorities had removed restrictions on the cars. The Biden administration earlier this year announced a probe into whether imported cars from China pose national security risks due to their ability to potentially collect data about the U.S. and send it back to China.

Tesla’s vehicles were not the only ones that passed the data security rules.

In addition to Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y, several new energy vehicles from BYD, Lotus, Nezha, Li Auto and Nio passed China’s data security requirements, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China said Sunday.

XPeng: We're bringing more AI into our vehicles

The new data security requirements for “connected vehicles” were released in November and cover cars released in 2022 and 2023 which automakers voluntarily submit for inspection, the center said.

The rules test for whether the cars anonymize facial recognition data outside the vehicle, default to not collecting cockpit data, process that data inside the car and prominently notify users of personal information processing. Tesla was included in the first batch of automakers that met the data compliance requirements.

Tesla said in its press release that it localized data storage in 2021 at its Shanghai data center, and passed the ISO 27001 international standard for information security after a review by third-party auditors.

Musk’s visit to China on Sunday also raised expectations that Tesla’s driver-assist software Full Self Driving would soon be available in the country.

However, JL Warren Capital CEO and Head of Research Junheng Li said on X that the rollout of a “supervised” version of FSD in China is “extremely unlikely.”

She pointed to challenges for Tesla to support local operation of the software as a foreign entity in China. Li said there’s “no strategic value” for Beijing to support FSD’s domestic rollout when there are many high-quality local alternatives, such as Xpeng‘s driver-assist software.

Premier Li visited Xpeng and other companies at the Beijing auto show on Sunday, and called for innovation and demand to drive production, according to state media.

Tesla is not exhibiting at this year’s auto show, as has been the case since a protester stood on one of its cars during the auto show in Shanghai in 2021. The show alternates between Beijing and Shanghai on an annual basis, and wasn’t held in 2022 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Finance

Goldman Sachs (GS) earnings Q1 2025

Published

3 hours ago

April 14, 2025

Business Finance News

David Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs, testifies during a Senate Banking Committee hearing at the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 6, 2023.

Win Mcnamee | Getty Images

Goldman Sachs is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings before the opening bell Monday.

Here’s what Wall Street expects:

Earnings: $12.35 per share, according to LSEG
Revenue: $14.81 billion, according to LSEG
Trading Revenue: Fixed Income of $4.56 billion and Equities of $3.65 billion, per StreetAccount
Investing Banking Revenue: $1.94 billion, per StreetAccount

Goldman Sachs may prove to be a beneficiary of the recent market environment.

On Friday, rivals JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley each topped expectations for first-quarter results on booming equities trading.

Equities trading revenue surged 48% and 45% at the banks, respectively, thanks to volatility in the opening months of President Donald Trump’s tenure amid his efforts to reshape global trade agreements.

Buoyant markets during most of the quarter, which ended March 31, should also support the bank’s wealth and asset management division, which CEO David Solomon has called the growth engine of the bank.

But markets have churned since Trump escalated trade tensions last week, sowing uncertainty across the world’s largest economy. Goldman shares have dropped 14% this year through Friday.

Analysts will be keen to hear what Solomon has to say about his conversations with corporate clients and institutional investors during the tumult.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.