Tesla’s supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) system is on track for launch in Australia, with no “regulatory blocks” currently hindering its deployment, unlike the situation in Europe.
Last week, Tesla showed footage from the tests of the FSD in Australia — the first hand-drive market to test the system.
Thom Drew, head of Tesla Australia, told the local media outlet News.com.au on Tuesday that FSD is a top priority for the brand, which has a “global engineering team” working across all markets “to roll it out.”
“That’s Elon’s [Musk] push,” the country diretor stated, adding that “there’s currently no blockers in Australia to releasing the self driving supervised as we have in North America.”
Drew did not disclose a timeline for the release, as Tesla‘s team is still working on calibration of the service in Australian roads. “But it’s certainly very exciting to be able to bring that to a market that doesn’t have a regulatory blocker.”
Tesla’s supervised FSD is available in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico and China, allowing its customers to drive “hands-off, eyes on” the road. It is available in the U.S. as a $99 monthly subscription or a single-payment of $8,000.
Regarding its European launch, both Tesla and Elon Musk have repeatedly stated that it is pending regulatory approval.
However, the latest amendment on regulation from the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) suggests that it could be available in September.
The new rules will unlock “System-Initiated Maneuvers” (SIM) in the old continent, limited to highways that are physically separated from vehicles — which means that several features of Tesla‘s FSD will not be available to European customers yet.
While the first versions of the supervised FSD are released across other markets, Tesla is already expanding the unsupervised system in the United States.
The company is unveiling its ride-hailing service in Austin next month, starting with “maybe 10 to 20” Model Ys on “day one.”
Last week, Reuters reported that Tesla sold previously leased vehicles — which the lessees were unable to buy — to new customers, after adding software upgrades.
In 2019, the company introduced a policy that stopped U.S. customers from buying the vehicles at the end of the lease, since the vehicles would allegedly be meant for a future self-driving taxi service.
