Tesla FSD demos in Korea
Reports show Tesla’s full self‑driving tech being demoed in South Korea, a push that observers say is prompting fresh regulatory attention overseas. (Social coverage on April 15 flagged Korea demos as a sign FSD development is moving into new international regulatory environments.) (x.com)
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system is now listed as available in South Korea, and Tesla’s Korea site is showing local demo material as regulators widen autonomous-vehicle rules. (tesla.com) Tesla says Full Self-Driving “Supervised” is available in nine markets, including South Korea, and describes it as a driver-assistance feature that still requires “active driver supervision.” The Korea-language page says some functions in Korea may differ from the United States demo video shown on the site. (tesla.com 1) (tesla.com 2) On Tesla’s Korea page, the product is presented as handling route navigation, steering, lane changes and parking under driver oversight, not as a fully autonomous system. Tesla also says the feature is trained on “billions of miles” of anonymized real-world driving data from its fleet. (tesla.com) South Korea’s transport ministry tightened its posture on the software on April 1, warning that unauthorized activation of Tesla Full Self-Driving is illegal under the Motor Vehicle Management Act. The ministry said using external devices to bypass software restrictions can bring penalties of up to two years in prison or fines of up to 20 million won. (koreatimes.co.kr) The legal backdrop has also been moving. A revised enforcement decree for South Korea’s Act on Promotion of and Support for Commercialization of Autonomous Motor Vehicles was promulgated on April 30, 2025, adding rules for performance certification, conformity approval and post-sale management for autonomous vehicles. (law.go.kr) That regulatory work accelerated again this week. On April 16, researchers from Korea and Britain said they had launched a joint effort to draft rules for driverless systems, with liability, remote operation and “no user in charge” vehicles at the center of the talks. (koreajoongangdaily.joins.com) South Korea also approved its first paid autonomous freight service on April 16. The transport ministry said RideFlux will begin parcel deliveries in June on a 112-kilometer expressway route, starting with a safety driver in the seat before later phases move toward unmanned operation. (koreatimes.co.kr) Taken together, Tesla’s Korea demos are landing in a market that is no longer treating self-driving software as a lab project. The country is writing certification rules, policing unauthorized use and approving commercial autonomous services at the same time. (tesla.com) (law.go.kr) (koreatimes.co.kr)
