Tesla has undertaken a world first in Australia, having completed a bulk Full Self-Driving (FSD) test drive event at the Everything Electric show in Melbourne, by providing over 600 drives across the three days.
This milestone was shared by the organizers of the show. Tesla had dozens of FSD-equipped EVs at the show available for hundreds of attendees experiencing the software for the very first time.
One of those experiencing this was Lloyd C, who shared on X: “Just tried out full self driving today on a test drive out of Footscray. Mind blown! What do you reckon is the best way to buy a Tesla? I’m thinking of doing a novated lease?”.
In September this year, Tesla announced the FSD supervised software to all eligible cars in Australia and New Zealand, making them the first right-hand-drive markets in the world to obtain the landmark technology.
At that time, this software was available on all new vehicles as an option with the current pricing of $10,100, as well a monthly subscription that starts at $149 per month.
For those customers who already have the Enhanced Autopilot package, upgrades are also available with pricing starting at $75 per month.
This subscription offering has helped bring thousands of current owners to try FSD Supervised for the first time.
It’s also worth noting that the software isn’t currently available to older, Hardware 3-equipped cars, so the subscription service won’t be available to those owners.
Tesla launched the FSD Supervised software in Australia on 18 September.
Within a fortnight of that launch, it revealed that it’s already been used for more than 1 million kilometres by owners across Australia and New Zealand.
Last week, Tesla hit 150,000 EVs milestone in Australia, 18 months after surpassing 100,000 EVs as it focuses on FSD and autonomous driving as one of its vehicles’ key technologies.
Then on Friday at the Everything Electric show in Melbourne, it unveiled its fastest Model Y so far at Everything Electric Show in Melbourne with impressive performance specs.
With so much interest in the FSD test drives at the event in Melbourne over the weekend, it’s clear that this tech could help bring many more people to the EV revolution in Australia.
We hope Tesla continues this drive through it’s stores in the coming months, as this tech would ultimately make our roads safer and cleaner.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.