Tesla Motors Taiwan Ltd (台灣特斯拉) said yesterday that it has submitted an application for its supervised full self-driving (FSD) system to the Vehicle Safety Certification Center, taking a first step toward making the feature available in Taiwan.
The system requires drivers to remain attentive and ready to take immediate control at all times, and does not make a vehicle fully autonomous, the company said.
It has been trained using anonymous driving data collected from 8.5 million Tesla vehicles worldwide, it said.
Each newly delivered vehicle can access a “lifetime” of driving scenarios through the system, it added.
Tesla said FSD (Supervised) is available or approved in 13 countries and regions: the US, Canada, China, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark and Belgium.
The company said that the system is undergoing road testing in Japan, including in major metroplexes such as Tokyo, Yokohama and Osaka.
Tesla announced that it would discontinue its one-time purchase option for FSD at 11:59pm on June 30.
The change would not affect customers who have already purchased the plan, while Tesla owners and new buyers can still purchase it before the deadline, the company said.
Tesla said owners of vehicles equipped with Hardware 3.0, which is not compatible with FSD (Supervised), would be eligible to transfer their FSD entitlement to a newly purchased Tesla free of charge if they take delivery by Sept. 30 and have purchased the plan for their current vehicle by June 30.
Taiwan’s regulations on driver assistance systems require drivers to remain in control of their vehicles and keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times.