Elon Musk: Tesla FSD 'Text and Drive' Is Now Available Despite Being Illegal in Some States

Elon Musk officially announced the arrival of Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) Text and Drive feature that will allow users to text or use their mobile phones while the car is driving on the road.

Elon Musk: Tesla FSD 'Text and Drive' Feature Now Available

Per an X account called Teslaconomics, their Tesla vehicle running the FSD version 14.21 has allowed them to text and drive while in transit, claiming that they have been on their phone for an extended period without the vehicle alerting them to pay attention.

Tesla CEO and co-founder, Elon Musk, has replied to the post, confirming that it is indeed the Tesla FSD feature that was announced months ago called Text and Drive.

However, in Musk's confirmation of the feature being available for the latest version of the FSD (Supervised) software, he said that it would still "depend on the context of surrounding traffic" conditions.

That said, that is all there is to the confirmation from the Tesla CEO as he did not provide much detail, especially if it is a wide rollout for users in a specific version of the FSD. Moreover, Musk did not address where this Text and Drive feature is eligible to use, especially as texting and driving is a grave offense in most of the country's states.

Musk and Tesla have yet to reveal if they have worked with regulators or states to legitimize the FSD (Supervised)'s Text and Drive feature, particularly if it is safe to use.

Report Says It's Still Illegal in Most States to Text and Drive

According to TechCrunch's report, texting while driving is still illegal in most states in the United States, with local regulators and law enforcement having established this for a long time already.

The publication also shared data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which cited that almost all 50 states of the country have banned texting and driving, with more than half classifying it as illegal.

Tesla has been working on developing its FSD software to be a widely accepted fully autonomous technology in the country, and this applies to private and public transportation applications. The company has been slowly expanding its self-driving robotaxi service, with Arizona being the latest state to give the company a permit.

While it remains unconfirmed if users would get pulled over and be issued a ticket by traffic patrol officers who caught them texting and driving despite having the FSD feature engaged, the use of this feature should be taken with caution.