Tesla's flagship semi-autonomous driving capabilities in Australia are, for now, limited to about a third of its vehicle fleet – but the company has suggested that may change.
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Tesla says it does not intend to leave behind owners of older vehicles with less advanced 'Hardware 3' cameras in the rollout of its most advanced semi-autonomous driving software – Full Self-Driving Supervised – who are currently locked out of the technology in Australia.
Around two-thirds of Tesla vehicles on Australian roads today cannot run the full feature set of Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised, currently limited to the newest models with improved 'Hardware 4' cameras.
Owners of older vehicles can purchase the software for $10,100 outright, or through a $149 monthly subscription, but it is locked until Tesla releases a version they can use on Australian roads
'Hardware 3' vehicles in the US can run an older version of FSD, but the same privilege is not afforded to Australian customers – for now.
"We've not completely given up on Hardware 3," Tesla chief financial officer Vaibhav Taneja told investors and media this morning.
"Over the last year, we've offered customers the option to transfer FSD to their new vehicle [and] at times we've been running promotions that if they've got FSD, they can get preferential rates. We've definitely been taking care of this.
"We do want to solve autonomy first, and then we will come back with a way to take care of these customers. These customers are very important, they are the early adopters."
"For what it's worth, my daily commuter is a Hardware 3 car, which I use FSD [in the US] on a daily basis. So we will definitely take care of you guys [Hardware 3 owners]."
Earlier suggestions by CEO Elon Musk pointed to a need for upgraded cameras to be retrofitted to Hardware 3 vehicles in order to unlock future software versions, but the trail has gone cold.
Excluded from the latest Australian cars is a newer version of FSD Supervised for Hardware 4 vehicles offered in the US, known as V14 (Version 14), which is said to be smoother and more capable than the V13 iteration in local examples.
There is no timeline for its rollout to Australia, but it is set to expand its availability in the US.
"Once the V14 release series is fully done, we are planning on working on a V14 Lite version for Hardware 3, probably expected in Q2 [April to June] next year," Tesla vice president of Autopilot and AI software Ashok Elluswamy said on the investor call.
Executives said 12 per cent of global Tesla customers have purchased Full Self-Driving, and have driven more than six billion miles (9.7 billion kilometres) with it switched on.
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Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
