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Tesla owner’s manuals outside North America hint at FSD beta rollout
Tesla has begun including Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta information in some of its newer owner’s manuals across Europe, China and Australia, further suggesting that the automaker may be inching toward a release of the system beyond North America.
The FSD beta was spotted being tested in Australia and Europe by just a few vehicles earlier this year, and Tesla has been ramping up hiring for the system in China in the past few months. In addition, China debuted a smart expressway for self-driving last month, designed for the use of up to Level 4 driving automation.
On Saturday, Tesla software observer Teslascope pointed out that the automaker has been hinting at the deployment of its FSD beta beyond North America, as details about the software can now be found in newer vehicle manuals from the company in Europe, China, Australia and elsewhere.
Although Tesla has been testing the software outside of North America for years, Teslascope notes that the FSD beta will still require regulatory approval in many countries, even as U.S. officials continue to navigate how to create a regulatory framework around self-driving software.
As a reminder with today’s “hinting” to Full Self-Driving (Beta) outside of North America within Owner’s Manuals, Tesla has been testing their autonomous suite for 2+ years now.
Many countries will require regulator approval, however, we remain confident in expansion soon. https://t.co/tyOkA5jDvN
— Teslascope (@teslascope) November 18, 2023
Credit: Tesla | Model 3 Owner’s Manual in Europe
It’s still not clear when Tesla will be rolling the FSD beta out publicly in these regions, though the addition of the system to its owner’s manuals is definitely not a bad thing.
Other sources have also claimed that Tesla’s FSD beta is set to enter the Chinese market, adding that the company is just waiting to announce the news.
https://twitter.com/bentv_sh/status/1725906555361808877
In each of the owner’s manuals, Tesla notes that “Depending on market region, vehicle configuration, options purchased, and software version, your vehicle may not be equipped with Full Self Driving (Beta) (also referred to as Autosteer on City Streets), or the feature may not operate exactly as described.”
The automaker also details plans to roll the feature out to customers beyond North America gradually, as can be seen below from the manuals.
“As Full Self-Driving (Beta) deployment expands, Tesla will gradually make it available to eligible customers in select countries outside of the United States and Canada,” the automaker writes.
“Because every country contains unique infrastructure, driving behaviors, and traffic patterns that Full Self-Driving (Beta) must adapt to over time, it is essential for drivers using Full Self-Driving (Beta) in newly eligible countries to be extra attentive and overly cautious. You must be ready to take over safely at any time.”
The company also notes that its FSD beta is a “hands-on feature that requires you to pay attention to the road at all times,” rather than offering higher levels of automation that would allow the driver to stop monitoring road conditions.
Last month, Tesla’s FSD beta program reached half a billion cumulative miles driven, ahead of the company’s release of the system’s version 12 in North America, which reportedly will no longer be a beta, according to CEO Elon Musk. It’s not clear exactly when the release will take place, though it’s expected to come soon.
In what seemed to be a joke tinged with self-awareness around Tesla’s failure to stick to rollout deadlines and his many prior claims that software would be released in just two weeks, Musk last week said customers might be able to try out FSD version 12 in “about 2 weeks.”
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The Tesla Semi is entering a new Pilot Program with Paper Transport, LLC (PTI), a Wisconsin-based transportation provider. The company will test the Semi’s Long Range configuration through “dedicated operations within the Chicago market.”
Chicago presents an interesting challenge for the Semi, as it will be a colder-weather climate that will test the Semi’s ability to operate in lower temperatures and in potentially large accumulations of snow. This is something Tesla has been testing with the Semi in Alaska and even in Northern California during the colder months, but Chicago will present a truly tough midwestern winter.
Tesla Semi spotted on journey home after winter performance testing
PTI says it is using the Semi to evaluate its strategy of reducing transportation emissions while maintaining performance, reliability, and cost efficiency. These are major arguments for the Semi being introduced into new fleets.
CEO of PTI Tyler Ellison said:
“PTI has been a leader in sustainable transportation solutions for over 15 years. We take a consultative approach to helping customers identify and implement the right transportation solution for their network. Our partnership with Tesla expands our portfolio alongside renewable natural gas and intermodal, giving customers more ways to reduce Scope 3 emissions without compromising service or economics.”
PTI is far from the first company to adopt the Semi within a fleet, as Tesla entered strategic agreements with PepsiCo. and its subsidiary Frito-Lay for a Pilot Program that extended throughout the California region.
Tesla has let companies like those utilize the Semi to determine whether it would be suitable for their operations. Additionally, Tesla gets valuable information regarding the Semi’s performance, knowing what to improve and what is ideal for companies that will utilize the all-electric truck for regional and nationwide logistics.
PTI plans to utilize the Long Range configuration, which is priced at $290,000 and features a range of approximately 500 miles, a three-motor powertrain, up to 800 kW of drive power, and consumption of just 1.7 kWh per mile.
Tesla Semi pricing revealed after company uncovers trim levels
VP of Maintenance at PTI, Bryan Ellen, added:
“We are excited to partner with Tesla, leveraging their ever-evolving technology. We are bullish in our estimation of the parallels available between our dedicated model and the efficiency of their fully electric Class 8 tractor. We anticipate a growing synergy between our businesses as we work to facilitate this sustainable solution for our customers.”
PTI has logged more than 87 million miles using sources like compressed and renewable gas, but now is looking to take it a step further with fully electric operations.
Tesla revealed on Monday that it is building a new autonomous vehicle at Gigafactory Texas, its plant just outside of the City of Austin. This particular vehicle will be geared toward those who are in need of a wheelchair-accessible car that would require no human driver for operation.
According to a new report from Wired, Tesla’s Senior Policy Advisor, India Herdman, told members of the Washington D.C. City Council on Monday:
“We are in development for a purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle. We know that paratransit can be very difficult, and people who are confined to wheelchairs permanently should still be able to move around freely, so that is an active product being built by Tesla in Texas.”
This builds upon what CEO Elon Musk said last year on X, which confirmed the company was working on accessible rides within its Robotaxi platform, which currently is confined to the Model Y.
Absolutely
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 19, 2025
Tesla is also developing the Cybercab, which started employee rides last week. However, this vehicle is not necessarily geared toward wheelchair accessibility.
That leaves a major gap in the autonomous ride-sharing program that Tesla is attempting to build; the company has been pretty clear that it does not want to complicate its manufacturing lines by bringing in a wide array of body styles.
However, it seems necessary to have something larger that could help transport people to appointments when they cannot drive. For wheelchair accessibility, the Robovan, which was unveiled at the “We, Robot” event in October 2024, seems to be the most ideal solution:
Herdman did not indicate whether she was referring to the Robovan or if Tesla is building yet another body style that is geared toward full autonomy but also caters to the handicapped.
Tesla might need to develop something specifically for the handicapped in order to align with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prevents discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation services. Uber was hit with a lawsuit late last year for “refusing to reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures where necessary to avoid discriminating against riders with disabilities.”
Tesla would obviously like to avoid this.
It will be interesting to see what Tesla will do with this project, and whether it will introduce something new to the market or just continue with the Robovan.
Tesla weirdly confirmed that its steering wheel-less and pedal-less Cybercab vehicle is now in the process of giving employees rides, a huge milestone for the vehicle program.
But the entire thing was super strange. On Friday, Tesla released a video stating that there was “Cool news from Giga Texas” and that employees were now taking rides in Cybercabs that have no manual controls. The units seen on public roads are engineering vehicles that have manual controls inside, a necessity as Tesla moved through the testing phase.
However, Tesla removed the video and reposted it shortly after with a more vague title. It seems like the employee rides are still going, but the video was adjusted slightly. The initial upload showed employees doing things like watching movies and adjusting the climate, but these snippets were removed in the second upload.
Cool news from Giga Texas pic.twitter.com/gvbG456Tzw
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) July 11, 2026
Both images below were uploaded with the first video, but were removed after Tesla re-uploaded the announcement. These are not available in the second upload
Credit: Tesla
Credit: Tesla
Nevertheless, the announcement from Tesla is that the Cybercab is operating with employees inside who can control the vehicle’s audio, video, climate, and destination settings through their smartphone app.
Tesla has already been testing Cybercab engineering units, but last month, it was able to self-certify for SAE Level 4, which would enable unsupervised self-driving in Texas. The company is moving toward that, and the plans have always been to launch Cybercab rides this year.
The Cybercab is potentially looked at as the next generation of Tesla’s mobility leg. For the past 15 years, the company has been known as somewhat of an automaker, among many other things. However, these passenger vehicles that Tesla has manufactured are now moving into a new realm, as they will eventually drive themselves with no supervision thanks to the Full Self-Driving suite.
The Cybercab is just the next step of that: a true vehicle developed for the sole purpose of ride-hailing. It has no human controls, it has only two seats, and it will get passengers from Point A to Point B with no awkward driver, no need for manual inputs, and with no stress.
Tesla is moving forward with other developments related to the Cybercab project as well. However, the big announcement will come when Tesla finally announces that it is launching Cybercab rides to the general public, something that it plans to launch either late this year or early 2027.
Tesla Semi enters new Pilot Program with interesting challenge
Tesla is building a wheelchair-accessible Robotaxi
