Tesla confirms FSD testing in Australia, first for right-hand drive market

Tesla has officially announced testing FSD (Supervised) in Melbourne, Australia, which comes as the first in the right-hand drive (RHD) market.

A nearly two-minute clip posted on the social media site X shows the FSD Supervised driving in public with a driver monitoring the car’s moves. During the showcase, the FSD made turns, reacted to stop signs, declined speed, waiting for pedestrians to cross the road, passing other vehicles, waiting for sides and parking the vehicle at the destination.

However, this announcement has its significance. It improves FSD’s ability to adapt to RHD countries to expand the market beyond left-hand drive in regions such as the US and Europe.

Tesla FSD (supervised) testing in Australia

It’s also a major technical challenge to recalibrate the vehicle sensors, cameras, and software for driving dynamics and road layouts according to the RHD market. For example, the position of the driver, the steering wheel, and the interaction with the traffic from the opposite side will need adjustments on how FSD acts in real-time.

Getting regulatory approval in an RHD market will pave the way for the company to comply well in similar countries, to some extent, with identical regulations.

Tesla designed FSD to provide self-driving capabilities for its vehicles, but the current version requires a driver to monitor its maneuvers. However, the unsupervised version is currently in development for vehicles in the US, which will launch later this year.