Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) is closer than many thought to launching in Australia, with the company confirming there are no regulatory obstacles preventing the rollout of the technology down under. Following a successful on-road test in Melbourne, Tesla is now focusing on local calibration as the final step before making FSD available to Australian owners.
The update was confirmed by Thom Drew, Tesla’s Country Director for Australia, who told the local media news.com.au, “There’s currently no blockers in Australia to releasing the self-driving supervised, as we have in North America.” While a specific launch timeline was not provided, Drew emphasized that deployment in Australia is a priority for both Tesla and CEO Elon Musk.
“We have a global engineering team that are working across markets around a lot of FSD… actively working across all our markets to roll it out,” Drew said.
FSD Debuts in Right-Hand Drive with Melbourne Test
Thom’s comments come after Tesla released a video of a new Model 3 equipped with FSD software navigating through Melbourne’s urban core. This marks the company’s first public test of FSD in a right-hand drive (RHD) market, after years of development focused on left-hand drive (LHD) regions such as the U.S., Canada, and China.
The demonstration showcased the vehicle handling various local traffic conditions, including cyclists, pedestrians, and one of Melbourne’s most uniquely challenging maneuvers—the “hook turn.” A staple of central Melbourne intersections, the hook turn requires right-turning vehicles to begin from the leftmost lane to avoid blocking tram lines. Even seasoned human drivers often struggle with the maneuver, but Tesla’s FSD performed it flawlessly, earning praise from local viewers on X.
A Vision-Based Advantage
Tesla’s approach to autonomy differs from other self-driving companies such as Waymo, which rely heavily on high-definition maps and geofenced areas. Instead, Tesla uses a vision-only system powered by neural networks, enabling FSD to scale to new markets without pre-mapping. This flexibility made it possible for the company to bring FSD to Australia with relatively minimal groundwork.
Drew explained that a global engineering team is actively working across markets, including Australia, to refine the system. “It’s certainly very exciting to be able to bring [FSD] to a market that doesn’t have a regulatory blocker,” he added.
What’s Next for Australian Tesla Owners?
Although no official launch date has been announced, the lack of regulatory barriers is a significant milestone. Local testing will continue as Tesla fine-tunes the system to suit Australian driving environments. Once complete, the supervised version of FSD could be made available to customers.
Currently, Full Self-Driving is priced at AU$10,100 in Australia, making it one of the more affordable markets for the software globally.
