Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced plans to expand access to the company’s advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), Full Self-Driving (FSD), throughout North America and the rest of the world. Musk stated that once FSD is super smooth, the company will roll out a free month-long trial for all cars in North America, then extend the offer to the rest of the world after ensuring it works well on local roads and is approved by regulators.
Despite the name, FSD does not allow a car to drive itself fully. The latest version of the beta software automates some driving tasks on both highways and city streets, but still requires the driver to stay alert and take over control of the vehicle at any time. FSD is technically still in the beta stage, and requires significant amounts of data to train and improve. Rolling FSD out to every Tesla in North America, even for just one month, allows the company to collect more driving data while simultaneously building hype for the software.
Musk did not provide a specific timeline for extending access to FSD beyond North America, where the $15,000 add-on has been available to anyone who requests it since November. However, Tesla has been limited in its ability to give drivers access to FSD outside of North America due to stricter regulations. Drivers only have access to Autopilot, Tesla’s standard ADAS, which includes features like automatic steering within a lane, automatic braking, and automatic navigation to highway on- and off-ramps.
There have been moves by the European Commission to speed up regulation on ADAS, with new regulations expected to be submitted in full by September 2024. In Asian markets like China, where Tesla Autopilot is available to drivers, there have been recent reports that the automaker will soon begin large-scale FSD testing.
FSD and Autopilot have been the subject of numerous lawsuits and federal investigations, including a criminal investigation from the U.S. Department of Justice. The family of an Apple engineer who died in a car crash while Autopilot was allegedly activated is currently underway, and Musk will likely have to take the stand to defend comments he made about the capabilities of the system.
