Tesla FSD (Supervised) in Japan: Tesla Japan's president keeps the 2026 launch target, with Cybercab as the next step
In an interview with "Nikkei", Tesla Japan president Richi Hashimoto says the goal of launching FSD (Supervised) in Japan in 2026 still stands after more than a year of public-road testing. Cybercab could follow.
Tesla is sticking with its goal of bringing FSD (Supervised) to Japan in 2026. Richi Hashimoto, president of Tesla Japan, confirmed the target in an interview published on October 19 by "Nikkei". He says the team is doing everything it can to make the launch happen, and after FSD, it wants to bring Cybercab to Japan too.
What Hashimoto said
Asked whether a launch this year is still realistic, Hashimoto acknowledged that the decision does not rest with Tesla alone. Even so, he said the team is making a maximum effort to hit the goal "100%" (our translation from Japanese, based on the public excerpt of the "Nikkei" interview).
According to a summary published by "Touch Lab", Hashimoto also said that:
- public-road testing, which began in August 2025, is making steady progress;
- safety comes first, and Tesla keeps working with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT);
- FSD (Supervised) remains a Level 2 driver-assistance system, with the driver responsible at all times.
Photo: Tesla (Cybercab on display at Tesla Nagoya Noritake, September 2026)
A year of testing, step by step
It started on August 20, 2025, when Tesla Japan officially announced FSD (Supervised) testing in the country, using a Model 3 with AI4 hardware and camera-only Tesla Vision. The release noted that the customer launch date depends on development progress and regulatory approval.
On March 5, 2026, testing expanded to the Model Y, and Hashimoto told "Nikkei" at the time that the target was 2026. The paper noted that an approval could reach many of the roughly 40,000 Teslas already sold in Japan through an over-the-air update.
What is still left to solve
Japan has quirks that need extra training. As examples, Hashimoto cited, according to "Touch Lab", very narrow streets and ordinary roads running underneath elevated expressways. There are also cases where what FSD judges as safe does not exactly match what Japanese law requires, and those are being aligned one by one through testing. On the plus side, he pointed to the sheer volume of data: the eight cameras on every Tesla worldwide feed the training of the neural network.
Cybercab, the next step
In September, Tesla Japan put Cybercab on display in its showrooms, including Shinjuku (Tokyo) and Nagoya. Hashimoto said the core technology is the same FSD found in the Model 3 and Model Y sold in Japan today, and that a Cybercab launch there is not a distant prospect. FSD (Supervised) remains the priority, though.
What it means for drivers
- For Europe, it is a good sign: FSD (Supervised) is already approved in nine EU countries, and every new market adds data and experience with different local rules.
- For Romania, the path is the one laid out in our guide to FSD (Supervised) in Europe: EU-wide approval or national recognition.
- For any Tesla owner, the message is the same: the hardware is already in the car, and the feature arrives by update once it is approved.
We also covered robotaxis in Japan when Waymo announced its 2027 plans.
