Tesla’s driver-assistance system could be in UAE by January

• Would be region’s first for FSD
• Automated steering and parking
• $7,600 upgrade

Tesla’s most advanced driver-assistance system could be switched on in the UAE as early as January according to its CEO Elon Musk.

The UAE would become the first market in the Middle East to get the “supervised” version of the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) software.

“Hopefully, next month,” Musk replied on X when asked about FSD becoming available in the UAE, according to posts on the platform. 

Musk’s comment this week came shortly after his visit to the UAE where he met with UAE president Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other Emirati rulers.

Tesla’s UAE site lists FSD (Supervised) as a AED28,100 ($7,600) upgrade, enabling features such as automated steering, highway driving, lane changes, overtaking and parking. 

The company says future updates will allow the vehicle to “drive itself almost anywhere with minimal driver intervention” – though the feature still requires active driver supervision and does not make it autonomous.

The UAE has emerged as one of the world’s busiest testing grounds for self-driving technology – Dubai aims for a quarter of all trips to be autonomous by 2030.

Chinese companies WeRide, Baidu and Pony.ai have already launched driverless robotaxi pilots in controlled zones across Abu Dhabi and Dubai, using vehicles equipped with high-end sensors such as lidar and radar.

This sensor-heavy approach is also used by Waymo, the self-driving taxi company owned by Google parent Alphabet.

Lidar – short for light detection and ranging – is widely considered a more expensive technology than cameras alone, with the sensor suites on many robotaxis running into the thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars per vehicle. 

Unlike those pilots, Tesla’s system is designed for private owners and relies on a camera-only system that is trained on billions of miles of driving data from customer cars, allowing it to deliver similar driver-assist functions at a fraction of the hardware cost.

If regulators give the green light, the move could put advanced driver-assistance features in the hands of thousands of consumers, not just riders in special taxis in geofenced areas.

Imthishan Giado, partner at Motoring Middle East and an AGBI columnist, said Tesla’s technology could be ideal on the Dubai-Abu Dhabi or Dubai-Sharjah commute.

“But it might work best only in the slow lane,” he said.

“You’ve got Mercedes S-Classes and Land Cruisers sitting five meters off your bumper making last-second lane changes and motorcycles cutting through gaps – so it remains to be seen if Tesla’s camera-only system can handle the real-world chaos on our roads.”

Further reading:

• Aldar chooses Yas Island for UAE’s first Tesla showroom
• Elon Musk meets top officials on UAE visit
• The year China conquered the Middle East car market

Musk has continued to dismiss lidar as unnecessary to achieve the safety required for large-scale autonomous deployment.

“Humans drive without shooting lasers from their eyes,” he said on a January 2025 earnings call.

On Wall Street, FSD remains central to Tesla’s long-term story. 

In a research note this month, Morgan Stanley’s new Tesla analyst Andrew Percoco called FSD “the crown jewel” of the automaker’s business, arguing that personal autonomous driving, if achieved, would be a key competitive advantage over both EV and legacy peers.

According to Musk’s vision, the Tesla Network would allow customers to either use their vehicles for ride-sharing – similar to existing ride-hailing platforms – or rent them out to other users.

Tesla shares have climbed in recent weeks and were trading around $485 on Tuesday, near a high above $490 reached earlier this week.