Teslaās full self-driving (FSD) software has seen major expansion over the last 12 months, and now the companyās CEO, Elon Musk, has hinted that the system is likely to be approved in two of the biggest car markets globally, as early as next month.
In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Musk shared that Tesla expects to get approval for FSD Supervised software in Europe as early as February and China around about the same time.
Musk said: āSelf-driving is essentially a solved problem at this point. We hope to get Supervised full-self-driving approval in Europe, hopefully next month, and then maybe a similar timing for China.ā
In 2025, Tesla has amped up its efforts on FSD, expanding its rollout to markets outside North America, including Australia and New Zealand.
By February last year, Tesla took a monumental step forward with its autonomous driving tech by introducing it in the worldās biggest vehicle market, China, allowing hundreds of thousands of cars to access a version of the system around city streets.Ā
This was not the complete FSD Supervised suite that the company had available in the US at the time in the US, and hence rolled it out as āCity Autopilotā in the Chinese market.
The company got feedback from its owners fairly quickly, with some classing it as āmore human-like, smooth and confident compared to other similar Chinese systems.ā
Then last month, Tesla finally hit one of its most challenging markets with FSD Supervised, delivering it in parts of Europe, but with a catch.
The catch with this initial European rollout was that it would be offered in the form of passenger rides, instead of experiencing it in the driverās seat like other markets with the softwareās availability.Ā
That is the result of the European regulatory framework, which has yet to approve the FSD Supervised suite across many parts of the continent.
Locally, Tesla launched the FSD Supervised system in Australia, making it the first right-hand-drive market in the world to receive this tech.
Since then, owners have clocked millions of kilometres with the system, reaching the first million within a fortnight of its launch.
With the systemās expansion now in full swing, millions of drivers in both Europe and China could soon have access to it for the first time.
RizĀ 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.