S. Korea probes Tesla FSD
- South Korean authorities opened a probe into unauthorized Full Self‑Driving activations in the country. - Reports say Tesla remotely deactivated the feature while regulators investigate specific incidents. - The inquiry adds scrutiny to Tesla’s deployment processes and was reported via social updates linking regulators and Tesla actions. (x.com)
South Korea’s transport ministry said on April 23 it asked police to investigate Tesla owners accused of illegally unlocking Full Self-Driving software. (chosun.com) The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the case involves software in vehicles being “arbitrarily modified,” according to Chosun’s English report on the ministry statement. Reuters-linked reports in Korea said the ministry made the request to the National Police Agency on Wednesday, April 23. (chosun.com, koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) The probe follows a March 31 warning from the same ministry that unauthorized activation of Tesla’s driver-assistance system violates South Korea’s Automobile Management Act. Sedaily reported the ministry said violations can carry penalties of up to two years in prison or fines of 20 million won, about $14,000 at current exchange rates. (en.sedaily.com, koreatimes.co.kr) Full Self-Driving is Tesla’s brand name for a paid package of advanced driving features, but Tesla says the current version still requires “active driver supervision” and “does not make the vehicle autonomous.” Tesla’s support pages say the software is only meant for activation and use in markets where regulators have approved it. (tesla.com, tesla.com) Korean officials said Tesla Korea first reported a software vulnerability tied to unauthorized activations and treated it as a cybersecurity issue. Korea JoongAng Daily and The Korea Times both reported that the government warning came after Tesla Korea flagged the problem to regulators. (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com, koreatimes.co.kr) Reports in April said Tesla had also started remotely disabling Full Self-Driving on vehicles that used unauthorized CAN bus devices, a type of hardware that can send commands across a car’s internal network. Electrek reported Tesla was detecting abnormal behavior in vehicle logs and revoking access in some cases. (electrek.co) Tesla’s own website now lists South Korea among the places where Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is available, alongside the United States, Canada, China, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the Netherlands. Tesla’s Korean site says some functions shown in U.S. demo videos may not be available in Korea. (tesla.com, tesla.com) That leaves regulators sorting out two separate issues at once: what Tesla is allowed to offer in South Korea, and whether owners bypassed the company’s controls to turn on functions their cars were not authorized to use. The police investigation is the next step in that narrower question. (chosun.com, tesla.com)
