Current: Tesla renames FSD in the EU to “Assisted Driving” after reaching an agreement with a German minister

Image: Tesla (excerpt from the new Tesla Assisted Driving page)

Almost since Tesla introduced the term “Full Self-Driving” (abbreviated as FSD) in 2016, there has been debate surrounding it. Critics argue that it is misleading because while the brand’s electric vehicles can handle more driving functions than others, they do not drive completely autonomously, as CEO Elon Musk had long promised. In the U.S., Tesla responded early by adding “Supervised” in parentheses after FSD. However, this seems insufficient in Europe, as the system has now been renamed “Tesla Assisted Driving.”

Tesla’s pages updated across Europe

The switch apparently took place late on Thursday. That it’s still fresh is shown by a Google search: those who searched for “Tesla FSD” on Friday saw a page with the apparent title “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” as the first result, which is the previous awkward translation of FSD (Supervised). However, Tesla itself now displays a new page called “Tesla Assisted Driving” for Germany. The abbreviation TAD is likely to quickly become standard for this new term.

Just as in Germany, this was the situation on other European Tesla websites on Friday morning, while the United States continued to refer to it as “Full Self-Driving (Supervised),” and the website address remained unchanged with the abbreviation FSD. It appears that only Europe is affected by this change. The trigger might have been discussions with German Transport Minister Steffen Bilger, who reported on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached under which Tesla would rename the FSD system to Assisted Driving for EU approval.

FSD is misleading according to the German minister

Bilger’s ministry cited the fact that the term FSD is “somewhat misleading” as the reason. In Germany, Tesla did not actually use it at all but instead referred to the feature as “full potential for autonomous driving.” With the switch to a subscription model in Europe in May, Tesla changed it to “potential for fully autonomous driving” in Germany, which still sounded too ambitious. On the other hand, “Assisted Driving” leaves no doubt that it is an assistance system.

Tesla has also received an exemption approval for FSD Supervised in eight smaller EU countries since April. Another meeting of the committee that could decide on a pan-European approval for Tesla’s system took place on Wednesday. The next opportunity for a vote is in December. Since Germany has signaled its approval in exchange for name changes (as well as stricter adherence to speed limits), a qualified majority needed for EU approval is expected.