[2026 National Assembly Audit] Tesla Korea: "FSD has logged 100 million km in Korea... We'll work with the Transport Ministry on evaluation"

Tesla Korea and BYD Korea chiefs appear at National Assembly audit on the 8th
BYD Korea criticized over risk of personal information leak

The heads of Tesla Korea and BYD Korea appeared as witnesses at a National Assembly audit by the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on Thursday and faced criticism over issues including consumer protection.

Tesla's Cybertruck. Photo by Kang Jinhyung aymsdream@

For Tesla Korea, the safety of its advanced driver-assistance feature, supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), was identified as the biggest concern.

During the audit, when Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Jang Jongtae asked, "Do you plan to have FSD evaluated under the special provisions of the Motor Vehicle Safety Standards?" Tesla Korea CEO Seo Youngdeuk replied, "We will actively cooperate with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to ensure that it can be evaluated."

Under the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Tesla Korea is exempt from domestic certification for U.S.-made models and has activated supervised FSD.

"Of the approximately 230,000 vehicles in Korea, about 45,000 can use the FSD feature," Seo said. "They have traveled more than 100 million kilometers in total using FSD so far. There have been minor accidents, but we have not been informed of any significant major accidents."

He added, "Tesla Korea has never formally requested any safety tests from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport or any relevant agency."

BYD Korea faced criticism from lawmakers over the possibility of personal information being leaked.

In response to concerns that the personal information of Korean customers could be transferred to the Chinese government, Jo Incheol, head of BYD Korea's passenger vehicle division, said, "We will strictly comply with Korea's Personal Information Protection Act and related laws and regulations."

Jo said that personal information transferred overseas ultimately goes to the company's headquarters in Shenzhen, China, adding, "We transfer only the minimum amount of personal information necessary."

Asked whether the Chinese headquarters had the authority to remotely issue commands to vehicles in Korea or restrict their functions, Jo replied, "As far as I know, it does not have that authority."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.