Tesla To Offer FSD System In Canada In 2 To 4 weeks

The deployment of Tesla's "Full Self-Driving" or FSD system continues at a steady pace. It is important to clarify though that it is still a semi-autonomous Level 2 system, very far from fully autonomous capabilities (from A to B without human intervention). To date, Tesla's FSD system is only available in the United States, and for drivers with very high and safe driving scores.

This scenario will change in a matter of weeks. Elon Musk told social media user Noah Webb (on Twitter) that the deployment of Tesla FSD to Canadian drivers would begin soon, but he also clarified that it needed to be taken "with caution". Musk may mean that Canadian drivers who are eligible for the beta phase must also have an almost perfect driving record, and that it could take two to four weeks, according to him.

As everybody in the EV world knows, FSD is still in a beta phase. Tesla has been developing the system for years and has carried out its own tests, but before finally launching it on the market - for any customer - it is pulling an army of drivers who voluntarily test the FSD system. Every time a driver takes over due to a system failure, the situation is analyzed in real time using AI and other high tech software, and the developers try to find where the problem or "bug" was generated so that they can fix it on the spot.

As Elon Musk himself said, there are subtle, important differences between US and Canada traffic rules and also between roads of Canada and those of the United States, at least enough to momentarily delay FSD development. However, some US drivers with the beta FSD have been able to navigate without much problem on the roads of the northern neighbor, and not only near the border.

On January 7th 2022, Elon Musk stated on his twitter account that the FSD system was increasing prices to $ 12,000, with the increase effective as of January 17th. This hefty price increase meets previous announcements from him, who repeatedly announced that Tesla would increase the price of the FSD as new features and tweaks were added. Although the software component is not commercially available, the cars are factory-prepared to use it. The FSD system is paid in advance at the time the car is ordered as an additional, extra feature. FSD Beta 11 will start rolling out in February, if there are no further delays.

At the moment, this price increase only affects the United States of America, the only market where the beta version of the FSD is available to people who have a "safe driving score", compiled for every user by Tesla; that score being basically more than 97 points. In two to four weeks Canadian drivers who are eligible for the beta phase – which means those drivers who have a high and safe driving record - will begin using FSD as well.

All images courtesy of Tesla Inc.

Nico Caballero is the VP of Finance of Cogency Power, specializing in solar energy. He also holds a Diploma in Electric Cars from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and enjoys doing research about Tesla and EV batteries. He can be reached at @NicoTorqueNews on Twitter. Nico covers Tesla and electric vehicle latest happenings at Torque News.