Tesla is pushing ahead with plans to power the global development of its self-driving system with data from China that could be processed within the country, part of a strategic shift by Elon Musk, according to people with knowledge of the work, AzVision.az reports referring to Reuters.

As part of that effort, Tesla has been developing plans for a data center in China to train the algorithm needed for more fully autonomous vehicles, according to two people, who asked not to be named because the work remains private.

Until recently, Tesla has focused on efforts to secure approval from Chinese regulators to transfer data generated by its EVs in China out of the country for its “Full Self Driving” (FSD) system, according to the two people and an additional person with knowledge of the matter.

It was not clear if Tesla would proceed with both options for handling self-driving data from China - data transfer and a local data center - or if it was developing parallel plans as a hedge.

Tesla's efforts underscore the speed of the electric vehicle maker’s pivot to bet on a breakthrough in AI at a time when EV demand has slowed and its competition has deepened.

Its push to make fuller use of data from vehicles in China to develop the automaker's artificial intelligence for driving comes as the US government has tried to clamp down on the transfer of AI technology from US firms to China.

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