Tesla FSD Is Now Live in China and Lithuania, Expanding to 10 Territories Worldwide
5 min read read
Tesla announced on May 21, 2026 that Full Self-Driving (Supervised) has gone live in China and Lithuania — bringing the total number of territories where customers can access the software to 10. China's approval is the more significant of the two: it ends years of regulatory uncertainty in Tesla's second-largest market and follows a Trump-Xi summit in Beijing where Xi Jinping publicly committed to opening China wider to U.S. investments.
Tesla stock rose 1.56% to $423.75 in pre-market trading after the announcement. The move also gives Tesla a competitive response to domestic Chinese automakers that have been aggressively developing and marketing their own driver-assistance systems.
The 10 Territories, Listed
| Territory | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| United States | Live | Original market; FSD v14.x (Supervised + Unsupervised pilots) |
| Canada | Live | — |
| Mexico | Live | — |
| Puerto Rico | Live | U.S. territory; counted separately by Tesla |
| Australia | Live | — |
| New Zealand | Live | — |
| South Korea | Live | — |
| Netherlands | Live | First European market; RDW approval after 18+ months of evaluation |
| China | Live (May 21, 2026) | "Supervised FSD"; differs from North American version |
| Lithuania | Live (May 21, 2026) | Second European market |
What China's FSD Actually Is — and What It Isn't
China's version is branded "Supervised FSD," matching the international naming convention, but it is not identical to the North American FSD v14 that includes features like the new Self-Driving app and intervention-free streak tracking. Chinese customers who previously purchased the FSD package had only Autopilot access; the new rollout provides a version of the supervised autonomy stack, though Tesla has not published detailed feature parity notes.
Before this launch, Chinese owners who wanted something beyond Autopilot had access to an "Intelligently Assisted Driving" package priced at 64,000 RMB (approximately $9,400 USD) — a premium that reflects both the regulatory gap and high local demand for advanced driver-assistance features.
"FSD Supervised is now active across 10 territories." — Tesla, via X (formerly Twitter), May 21, 2026
The Geopolitical Timing
China's FSD approval coincided with U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit to Beijing, during which Xi Jinping signaled a broader opening to American investment. Tesla's announcement came shortly after the summit concluded. It is worth being precise about what that means: Tesla and Chinese regulators have been working through technical and legal requirements for FSD approval for years, and the summit did not cause the approval — but the timing suggests both sides saw an opportunity to move simultaneously.
Musk's close relationship with the Trump administration has added a layer of diplomatic visibility to Tesla's China operations. Whether that relationship accelerates or complicates approvals in other regulated markets is an open question.
Lithuania and the European Expansion Path
Lithuania's approval makes it the second European country to receive FSD, following the Netherlands. The Dutch approval by the RDW (the national vehicle authority) took more than 18 months of evaluation and was granted on a provisional basis — meaning the regulatory template for Europe is painstaking but has now been validated twice.
The remaining large European markets — Germany, France, the UK, Spain — are presumably working through similar review processes. Tesla has not announced approval timelines for any of them. The UK is notable because it sits outside the EU regulatory framework post-Brexit, potentially allowing a faster path if regulators choose to move quickly.
The Bottom Line for Tesla Owners
For Chinese customers, this is a meaningful feature unlock after years of waiting. For the global FSD rollout story, reaching 10 territories is a real milestone — but it still leaves the majority of Tesla's global customer base outside the coverage zone. Europe's largest markets are not yet on the list, and each approval requires substantial regulatory engagement. The pace of territorial expansion will be one of the key variables determining when FSD becomes a meaningful recurring revenue line for Tesla.
Photo: Tesla touchscreen interface / Pexels