On November 6 (local time), during Tesla's annual shareholder meeting, CEO Elon Musk made an announcement that Tesla intends to permit owners of vehicles outfitted with FSD (supervised) capabilities to send text messages while driving within the next one to two months. It's important to note that texting while driving is against the law in the majority of jurisdictions. However, Musk did not offer any explanation regarding how to sidestep this legal risk.

To make this feature a reality, Tesla would need to rely on 'unsupervised FSD' technology. But the market introduction of this particular functionality has been pushed back to 2026. In late October of this year, Tesla rolled out the 'World Simulator.' The unsupervised FSD functionality is currently up against a two - pronged challenge: technological evolution and regulatory scrutiny. It is anticipated that full approval for this technology in China will be granted in February or March 2026.

Musk mentioned that prior to allowing texting while driving, he would 'take a close look at the data.' Tesla has released data indicating a substantial decrease in collision rates when the FSD functionality is in use. Nevertheless, the industry harbors doubts about the precision of this data. Some suggest that the reduction in collisions might be attributable to variations in usage scenarios and the demographics of the users. By way of comparison, the collision rate in Austin's Robotaxi project is notably higher.