Tesla may test CyberCab service and Robotaxi in China as it buys a boatload of LiDARs

Facing regulatory hurdles and an extension of the NHTSA investigation over the Autopilot recall fix in the US, Elon Musk reportedly asked local regulators to use China as a testing ground for its upcoming "purpose built" Robotaxi and CyberCab service.

During his recent visit to Beijing, Tesla scored important concessions on the way to releasing its FSD autonomous driving service there. It was one of the four automakers that passed the tests for secure vehicle autonomy data collection, alongside local juggernauts BYD and NIO.

While nothing is yet set in stone when it comes to the FSD China launch, Elon Musk reportedly asked local authorities if Tesla can bring the self-driving system to its local vehicles and use them as an autonomous taxi fleet of sorts. This sounds more like the CyberCab service that Tesla teased during its quarterly call, but the officials said that China "welcomes Tesla to do some robotaxi tests in the country." They also expressed confidence that this will serve as a good example for the budding autonomous driving systems there.

In order to operate a Full Self-Driving service fleet or Robotaxis, Tesla will have to collect more safety data to present to regulators. In China, it will also have to get a data transfer and storage approval, as well as partner with a local license holder.

While these are yet to be discussed in details with Chinese regulators, Tesla ostensibly partnered with local search giant Baidu for FSD mapping and navigation services. A new report now says that the Baidu deal only includes improvement to existing lane navigation that Tesla already uses in China, so the FSD and Robotaxi discussions are apparently still in the preliminary stage there.

Tesla is still working full throttle on its autonomous driving data collection, though, as well as the Robotaxi service that Elon Musk said will be detailed on August 8. In fact, Luminar's Q1 filing reveals that Tesla has become the largest single customer for its LiDAR units, even though Elon Musk prides in only using cameras for autonomous driving.

Still, for $2 million Tesla must have bought thousands of LiDAR units despite its insistence on a Vision-only FSD approach so far. Practically all the high-end Chinese EVs equipped with self-driving kits use LiDARs in addition to the cameras and all the other sensors around the car. Whether that is a regulatory thing, or Tesla simply wants to use LiDARs for testing purposes, as Luminar's filing suggest, remains to be seen.

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