FOR Kiwis with latest Teslas, the early hours of today presented what they might in time remember a dawn of a new age - at 2am, the ‘hands free, but pay attention’ breakthrough that is Full Self Driving became active.

The most advanced driver assist system ever employed on New Zealand roads will initially restrict to a few hundred cars as it is tuned for a specific hardware package that only features on facelift Model 3 and Model Y models. 

These respectively released last year and two months ago.

But rollout will ultimately affect almost all NZ-new Teslas here; meaning thousands of examples of those cars, which though relatively quiet sellers now were both high volume products up to end end of 2023, when the end of rebates triggered a massive decline in EV interest.

NZ (and Australia) are the first right-hand drive markets for a technology that has been available as an option here since 2017 - but kept inactive until now.

As the most advanced driver assist system here, it is set to gain plenty of attention, but Tesla might not hold the high ground for long.

One Chinese make, MG, has indicated the IM premium car it plans to soon sell here will have an even more advanced technology, using radar and light detection and ranging, lidar for short. 

Most car brands believe the latter, which is like high-definition radar, using laser light instead of radio waves to scan a scene and create an accurate HD image of it, is a vital.

Tesla has been steadfast in its disagreement. It believes a reliance on on eight exterior cameras feeding a dedicated computer is enough. That vision is processed at 36 frames per second into a 3D model, and a neural net predicts the safest path forward. 

NZ is achieving the latest format, called the Version 13 software, users in North America cite as being hugely improved over previous editions, mainly because it makes the car move more confidently and fluidly.

However, in perhaps recognition of past issues with the system, Telsa regionally has been at great pains to enforce Full Self-Driving is not a true autonomous technology. 

That is why the version enacted here is labelled ‘FSD Supervised’ and why the distributor is being very clear that deployment means just that. 

It has consistently messaged the driver must remain in control and is legally responsible at all times.

Thus, though a person behind the wheel can have their hands off, they must be ready to take control. 

They must also focus on the roadscape; to that end there’s an infrared camera monitoring the driver’s head and eyes, even through sunglasses. 

If insufficient attention is determined, it will first sound a warning and, if those are ignored, the system will disable itself.

There’s no legal issue. The Land Transport Act requires someone to be “in control” of a vehicle, but doesn’t insist on hands on the wheel. A move to true driverless operation would need new legislation.

FSD has been exclusive to North America for years and only recently availed in China, where the release did not go well and it has also been required to rebrand the tech as ‘Intelligent Assisted Driving’.

FSD can be bought outright for $11,400 or availed by a $159 monthly subscription.

MotoringNZ.com tested FSD-S in Brisbane last month. Our story and video can be found here.