Tesla said on Thursday it will begin rolling out its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) driver-assistance system in Australia, the first right-hand-drive country where the technology will be available.
The phased introduction will start with Model 3 and Model Y vehicles equipped with the company’s latest Hardware 4 system.
Details on the roll out to Tesla vehicles using the previous hardware version remain unknown.
The move comes nearly five years after Tesla first introduced FSD as a beta program in the United States in October 2020. Since then, the software has expanded to Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and China.
Tesla confirmed the feature will initially be available as a paid option costing AUD$10,100 ($6,560).
Details of the subscription model were not shared. Customers purchasing a new Tesla in Australia will receive a 30-day free trial.
Data from the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) showed Tesla sold 917 vehicles in July, down from 4,589 in June and 2,592 a year earlier.
The figures include 555 Model Y SUVs and 362 Model 3 vehicles.
The company’s “Enhanced Autopilot,” which includes lane changes, overtaking, auto-park and on-ramp to off-ramp highway navigation, is offered separately at AUD$5,100.
Tesla released video footage earlier this year showing its FSD system operating on the streets of Melbourne and Sydney.
Thom Drew, Tesla’s country director for Australia, said this month that there were “no regulatory blockers” to deployment and that validation testing was nearing completion.
Australia’s National Transport Commission (NTC) also recently signaled regulatory support. In a July video message, the agency said, “Autonomous vehicles are coming to Australia, soon,” its first public statement on self-driving cars in over a year.
Tesla has been testing its semi-autonomous and autonomous features across Europe, including in the UK, Spain, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands, among others.
At the second quarter shareholder deck, Tesla stated that it is continuing to prepare for the launch of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised software in Europe and a “broader release” in China later this year, pending regulatory approval.
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Tesla may raise the price of its best-selling Model Y in the United States "in the coming days" as demand surges ahead of the September 30 expiration of the federal $7,500 EV tax credit, a senior executive said on Monday.
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