Elon Musk’s recent remark at Davos that China could green-light Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system ‘soon’ was met with caution by Beijing. Multiple contacts within China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and three leading domestic vehicle safety regulators indicate no formal review process is underway. Industry analysts now project regulatory clearance may slip into late 2026, rather than the previously anticipated first half, delaying Tesla’s potential FSD subscription roll-out to the world’s largest EV market by several quarters and pushing back expected incremental revenue of up to $1.2 billion annually from Chinese subscribers.

Tesla shareholders in December reinstated Musk’s 2018 performance-based award, now valued at over $130 billion, and approved a new plan that could deliver up to $1 trillion in stock awards over ten years. The package hinges on achieving 12 escalating targets—including reaching a $3 trillion market capitalization and cumulative non-GAAP operating income of $200 billion. While supporters argue this structure aligns Musk’s incentives with long-term shareholder value, critics note that even if Tesla misses all but the initial five milestones, Musk could still net tens of billions in equity, further widening the gap between CEO pay (now 192 times median Tesla employee pay) and broader workforce compensation growth of just 26% over the past half-century.

On January 22, Tesla began operating its Model Y Robotaxis in Austin without in-cab safety drivers, marking the first live deployment of fully unsupervised vehicles. Each unit continues to be shadowed by a human-monitored chase car, but Tesla’s internal safety metrics—drawn from over 5 million miles of supervised fleet testing—now meet U.S. regulatory thresholds for commercial launch. Investors view this milestone as critical proof of concept. Tesla plans to expand Robotaxi presence to the Bay Area by mid-2026 and anticipates dedicated Cybercab production in Austin starting April, potentially unlocking new high-margin mobility-as-a-service revenue streams.

Tesla has removed its legacy Autopilot driver-assist package from U.S. and Canadian vehicle configurations, eliminating the one-time $8,000 purchase option for Full Self-Driving. Going forward, customers may only access FSD via a $99 monthly subscription that Tesla warns will increase as software capabilities advance. The shift aims to convert one-off buyers into recurring-revenue subscribers; CFO Vaibhav Taneja noted that only 12% of Tesla owners had previously opted in. This migration could boost annualized software revenue run-rate by over $500 million within 12 months if subscriber adoption climbs to just 20% of the active fleet.