Hold up folks, this isn't quite the usual debate about the merits of the technology or overselling what it can do. That lawsuit stems from where the cars were manufactured.
1. Tesla "FSD" on its own isn't street-legal in South Korea.
2. However it is street-legal if it comes with a car imported from the US, because of a trade-agreement between the two countries.
3. Tesla took "FSD" money from customers while providing them China-made cars that don't get that exception.
> FSD can be used on about 20% of Tesla vehicles registered in South Korea — those manufactured in the US, Tesla Korea country manager Seo Young-deuk said in parliamentary testimony last month. Those cars meet US vehicle-safety standards that South Korea recognizes as part of a free trade agreement, according to the forthcoming complaint to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), seen by Reuters.
Just to be clear, you accept that the reporting is corect and the situation exists, and you're just curious about how and why?
I'm not a lawyer, let alone a Korean lawyer or an international trade lawyer, but this US copy of the agreement [0] has an addendum (PDF) linked as "2011 Exchange of Letters (revised as of January 1, 2019)", where it states:
> Korea shall provide that an originating motor vehicle produced by a manufacturer that sold no more than 50,000 originating motor vehicles in the territory of Korea during the previous calendar year shall be deemed to comply with Korean Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (KMVSS) if the manufacturer certifies that the motor vehicle complies with U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
I tried to pull up Korean legal code and run it through a translator, but... ugh. Anyway, an agreement of this nature might take precedence while absent from the KMVSS rules.
Hold up folks, this isn't quite the usual debate about the merits of the technology or overselling what it can do. That lawsuit stems from where the cars were manufactured.
1. Tesla "FSD" on its own isn't street-legal in South Korea.
2. However it is street-legal if it comes with a car imported from the US, because of a trade-agreement between the two countries.
3. Tesla took "FSD" money from customers while providing them China-made cars that don't get that exception.
I think your third point is broken. It doesnt matter where the cars are made, the law of SK states that FSD cannot be used for either car.
> It doesn't matter where the cars are made
Counterexample from the article:
> FSD can be used on about 20% of Tesla vehicles registered in South Korea — those manufactured in the US, Tesla Korea country manager Seo Young-deuk said in parliamentary testimony last month. Those cars meet US vehicle-safety standards that South Korea recognizes as part of a free trade agreement, according to the forthcoming complaint to the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC), seen by Reuters.
> Those cars meet US vehicle-safety standards that South Korea recognizes as part of a free trade agreement
Does Korean law concerning cars and automation actually state this exception ?
Just to be clear, you accept that the reporting is corect and the situation exists, and you're just curious about how and why?
I'm not a lawyer, let alone a Korean lawyer or an international trade lawyer, but this US copy of the agreement [0] has an addendum (PDF) linked as "2011 Exchange of Letters (revised as of January 1, 2019)", where it states:
> Korea shall provide that an originating motor vehicle produced by a manufacturer that sold no more than 50,000 originating motor vehicles in the territory of Korea during the previous calendar year shall be deemed to comply with Korean Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (KMVSS) if the manufacturer certifies that the motor vehicle complies with U.S. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).
I tried to pull up Korean legal code and run it through a translator, but... ugh. Anyway, an agreement of this nature might take precedence while absent from the KMVSS rules.
[0] https://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/...
What a coincidence, Tesla mislead everyone else about automated driving too!