MOLIT: "FSD Incompatible with Domestic Standards"

Tesla's stock closed at $356.09, down 3.2%. In the European market, registration numbers increased by 279% in France but decreased by 79% in Norway, indicating a significant widening gap in country-specific registrations. With figures from the UK and Germany yet to be released, this is analyzed as a partial report, making it difficult to assess the overall market situation. Some analysts suggest that profit-taking movements are occurring before the Cybercab event.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has stated that if Tesla's supervised FSD and FSD Version 14 Lite are activated on public roads, they would be incompatible with Article 89, Annex 6-2, Paragraph 14 of the current automobile regulations. However, U.S.-made Tesla vehicles already operating in Korea are exempt from correction orders due to the Korea-U.S. FTA mutual recognition agreement. This ruling is a response to a civil complaint regarding the activation of FSD in Chinese-made Tesla models.

MOLIT's stance on FSD has changed multiple times. In December 2024, it stated there would be no restrictions on FSD introduction, but in June 2024, Minister Kim Yoon-duck hinted that discussions were needed regarding the introduction of FSD in Chinese-made models, signaling a shift. Ultimately, the response changed to 'incompatible' under current regulations, solidifying the government's skeptical view on FSD's domestic introduction.

Chinese-made Tesla Model 3/Y sold in Korea do not officially support FSD. However, some users have unofficially activated FSD and operated their vehicles, leading to cases where police investigations were requested. Complainants raised concerns about fairness, questioning why different regulations apply to U.S.-made and Chinese-made models despite using identical hardware and software. Ultimately, MOLIT's incompatibility ruling is a response to this background, once again bringing the issue of regulatory imbalance for identical technology to the forefront.

MOLIT's FSD incompatibility ruling is based on Level 2 autonomous driving standards specified in Article 89, Paragraph 14 of the automobile regulations. Current regulations presuppose that drivers must manually operate the turn signal to change lanes. However, Tesla FSD includes a function where the system automatically performs lane changes, resulting in an incompatibility ruling due to the difference between this and the driver operation requirement.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated that it is not directly judging the safety-related hypotheses about Tesla FSD presented by the complainant. This is because Korea's automobile certification system follows a 'self-certification system,' where manufacturers confirm compliance with standards and sell, rather than the government directly testing vehicles.

Korea's automobile certification system does not involve the government pre-testing and approving vehicles. Instead, it operates on a 'self-certification system' where automobile manufacturers themselves confirm that their vehicles comply with safety standards before selling them. For this reason, MOLIT states that it does not conduct prior verification of the technical differences or safety of new technologies like FSD, nor is it obligated to provide explanations about them.

Tesla released an official document called 'Article 39 Dashboard' to gain FSD approval in Europe. This document does not aim to prove that Tesla's FSD system perfectly complies with current regulations, but rather requests an exceptional permit as a new technology, despite not conforming to current regulations. The document contains FSD safety data showing a pass rate of over 99% and 0 fatal accidents, which is interpreted as leveraging the provision for requesting exceptional permission for new technologies that do not meet current regulations.

Tesla released Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) data to address FSD safety concerns. In European urban driving environments, FSD's AEB activation rate was 682.7 incidents per million miles, which is 4.5% higher than the 653.6 incidents when driven by a human. By transparently releasing this data, Tesla aims to dispel public criticism that it intentionally inflates or conceals data.

Europe has established a clear 'door' to allow exceptions to current regulations for new technologies like FSD. FSD approval has already been completed in five countries, including the Netherlands, and a vote across all 27 European Union member states is scheduled for October 6. In contrast, Korea currently lacks a dedicated task force or research organization to verify FSD or accept new technologies. However, an 'opening' exists through the Korea-U.S. FTA agreement, allowing U.S.-made vehicles to exceptionally introduce FSD in Korea.

The introduction of Tesla FSD in Korea appears to have shifted from a technical issue to one of administrative scheduling and legal reform. The most crucial factor will be when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport amends the law to establish a framework for accepting new technologies like FSD. The European Union's FSD approval vote, scheduled for October 6, is expected to positively influence domestic policy decisions.