Tesla is lobbying the Australian federal government to open public roads to fully driverless vehicle trials from 2027, ahead of a planned national law that would govern autonomous cars.
The US electric vehicle maker argues that self-driving technology could make roads safer, lower transport costs and lift national productivity. But its pitch also raises questions about the evidence behind its claims and how quickly regulators should move.
The request was set out in a submission to a federal parliamentary committee examining Australia's productivity, according to a report by Zecar.
Tesla Wants Trials Before the Law Is Finished
The company told the Federal Parliament's Select Committee on Productivity in Australia that the Commonwealth should prioritise and accelerate the proposed Autonomous Vehicle Safety Law, which would create a national regulatory framework for fully autonomous vehicles.
More significantly, Tesla does not want to wait for that legislation to be completed. It recommended that the government work with industry to grant permits for autonomous vehicle trials during 2027.
Under that approach, companies could test their systems under approved conditions while longer-term rules are still being drafted.
Where Self-Driving Stands in Australia Today
Australian owners of compatible newer Tesla models can already use Full Self Driving (Supervised). Despite the name, the system is not fully autonomous and requires a human driver to stay alert and ready to take over at any moment.
Fully driverless services, such as robotaxis and autonomous ride-hailing, are not generally allowed on Australian roads because the necessary legal and regulatory framework does not yet exist.
Interest in the technology is nonetheless growing, with several companies exploring how driverless vehicles could reshape how Australians get around.
A Productivity Inquiry Opens the Door
Tesla's submission lands in front of a committee set up amid concerns about sluggish productivity, weak real wage growth, slipping national competitiveness and mounting cost-of-living pressure on households.
Autonomous driving is among the areas the committee is weighing, given its potential to make transport more efficient and cut the economic toll of road crashes.
Questions Over Tesla's Supporting Figures
A central plank of Tesla's case is safety. The company claims driverless technology could prevent roughly 800 road deaths in Australia every year, a figure it attributed to government research.
However, the specific source of that annual estimate could not be independently identified in reporting on the submission, and Tesla did not respond to requests for clarification before publication.
Tesla also pointed to economic modelling it said was produced by the Autonomous Vehicle Association of Australia and shared with the government. Reporters were unable to find a record of any organisation operating under that name.
What Existing Research Actually Says
There is government-commissioned work on the topic. A 2021 report prepared for the federal government by the Centre for International Economics, titled The Economic Impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles, estimated autonomous vehicles could save around 8,000 lives in total by 2070.
That report drew heavily on research from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics. It projected that most of the potential lives saved would come between 2050 and 2070, as adoption becomes widespread.
The gap between that long-horizon cumulative estimate and Tesla's annual figure underlines why independently verified data matters when governments are asked to approve public road trials.
What It Means for Drivers and the Industry
For everyday motorists, little would change in the near term. Trials would not allow privately owned Teslas to drive themselves without someone behind the wheel, and the existing supervised system would still demand driver attention.
For the wider industry, controlled trials in 2027 would let manufacturers test autonomous systems on local roads and in local traffic, while giving policymakers a clearer view of the safety standards, insurance arrangements and legal liability needed for broader rollout.
Whether Tesla gets its way will hinge on how Canberra balances the push for productivity against the need for credible safety evidence and public trust. For companies building in autonomous mobility, the episode is a reminder that regulators are likely to scrutinise the numbers as closely as the technology.
Source: Zecar
