Europe May Not Be Ready For Tesla FSD Yet. Regulators Still Want Answers

• Tesla FSD is approved in the Netherlands, but other European regulators still have safety concerns.
• Regulators questioned FSD’s speeding, winter-road behavior, and potentially misleading name.
• Wider EU approval could take months, with key committee meetings planned for July and October.

Tesla Full Self Driving was officially approved for public road use in the Netherlands in April by the country’s road safety body, the RDW. This was seen as a major step toward allowing FSD to operate across the European Union, suggesting that a continent-wide rollout was right around the corner.

However, it seems regulators in other countries still have concerns about FSD, and until those concerns are addressed, the Netherlands will remain the only European country where it’s allowed. Reuters found emails from regulators in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway, who said they would review the request from Tesla to recognize FSD’s approval in the Netherlands and also allow it in their countries

One of the concerns expressed by Hans Nordin from the Swedish Transport Agency was that Tesla allows FSD to exceed the speed limit. He argued that this should not be allowed, while Jukka Juhola from the transport authority in Finland questioned how well FSD would cope with roads covered in ice and snow.

Juhola asked “Are they really introducing a system that allows hands-free driving also on icy 80 km/h roads?” wondering how a Tesla on FSD would cope with a sudden avoidance maneuver on an icy road. The fact that the naming is misleading also came up, arguing that it could confuse users because it overstates the system’s capabilities.

Another point that came up was whether FSD would allow drivers to operate their phones while the car is in automated driving mode. Tesla wants to roll out FSD Supervised in Europe, which means the driver still needs to keep their eyes on the road and remain attentive.

However, some regulators praised FSD for its capability, and they were apparently “inundated with emails from Tesla enthusiasts pushing for approval.” This wave of emails was prompted by Tesla itself, which encouraged owners to pressure regulators to speed up the approval process. This likely did nothing to hasten the process in the Netherlands, and it may even have had the opposite effect, frustrating officials.

One Norwegian official reportedly said regulators would have to spend time answering “misled consumers,” while Tesla’s EU policy manager acknowledged such emails were usually “not helpful” to the approval process.

Dutch regulators still haven’t released the data they used to approve FSD for use in the country. Until they do, some countries will naturally remain skeptical, so they could slow-walk wider approval until the RDW publishes its FSD research findings.

To get FSD approved across the EU, representatives from 55% of member states and 65% of the population need to vote yes. There was no vote scheduled this week, with the next committee meetings planned for July and October. Today, Dutch officials are expected to explain to an EU committee why they cleared Tesla’s FSD for use—and why they believe the rest of Europe should do the same.