As much as Tesla is celebrated for its revolutionary autopilot technology, Malaysia has yet to authorise its use in their country.
Recently, a Singapore couple on TikTok shared their hands-free road trip to Malaysia, using Tesla’s self-driving feature for most of the trip.
In the wake of this, Malaysian police have reportedly announced that they will be investigating the matter, citing case studies in which the feature had caused accidents in the United States (US).
According to Guang Ming Daily, the Malaysian police have caught wind of the couple’s self-driving road trip video on TikTok.
The footage shows the driver sitting behind the steering wheel with his hands off it, relying on Tesla’s self-driving system to control the vehicle.
Supt. Dr. Bakri bin Hj. Zainal Abidin apparently said that automatic assisted driving is prohibited in Malaysia. The authorities will thus invoke the Land Transport Act 1987 to launch an investigation.
He also pointed out that although Tesla’s driving assistance system allows the car to automatically drive, accelerate, and brake on the road, it is not foolproof, cited Guang Ming Daily.
Drivers will hence need to supervise themselves during the drives as the system is not guaranteed to handle the vehicle safely.
For context, the couple in question had driven their Tesla Model 3 SR+ into Malaysia on 1 Apr.
@sgpikarchu Crossed the custom within 45 minutes at midnight. Drove past KL, continuing up north! Go Tesla 🤓 #SgTeslaGoesMsia #EVboleh ♬ Vacation – Dirty Heads
They set off from Singapore at midnight and arrived in Penang, a whole day and 700km later.
A quick look at their TikTok account shows that they’re still uploading videos from tourist destinations in Malaysia.
Before Singaporean Tesla drivers start jetting off on a road trip around Malaysia, it would be wise to hear from the Malaysian authorities on their stance towards the self-driving feature.
Although Singapore has embraced electric vehicles and Tesla in the past year, our neighbours have yet to give their verdict on this new tech.
Let’s hope they clear up the measures soon so we can stay on the right side of the law.
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Featured image adapted from @SGpikarchu on TikTok and Facebook.
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