Tesla is removing “Full Self-Driving” in Europe and renaming its driver assistance system

Image: Tesla

Tesla appears to be dropping the term “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) for its advanced driver assistance system in Europe. According to news agencies Bloomberg and Reuters, the technology is now being marketed on the U.S. automaker’s local websites under the name “Tesla Assisted Driving.”

The change affects countries such as Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands, while Tesla continues to use the term “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” in the U.S., meaning “fully autonomous driving under supervision.” This is due to regulatory concerns about potential misrepresentation of the actual level of automation of the technology.

The name change follows discussions between Tesla and the Federal Ministry of Transport in September. In a statement in October, Federal Minister of Transport Steffen Bilger described the previous name as misleading, as the system did not handle the entire driving task. Tesla then proposed renaming the technology “Tesla Assisted Driving.” The ministry is now supporting an expedited approval across Europe, with technical requirements as well as liability issues being part of the process.

Technically, it remains a monitored driver assistance system that can assist the driver with acceleration, braking, and steering. Despite its extensive features, the vehicle operator must always monitor road traffic and intervene immediately if necessary. Full responsibility for safe driving remains with the human driver.

Tesla has made progress toward European approval. The Dutch regulatory authority RDW issued a type approval limited to the Netherlands in April, after the system was studied for over a year and a half and tested under various traffic conditions. According to Reuters, by early October the technology was already approved in eight European Union member states, while Slovakia was preparing another approval.

Additional regulatory steps are required for approval across the EU. According to Reuters, a vote originally scheduled for October has been postponed until at least December, partly because some member states want to conduct further reviews. Germany has agreed in its discussions with Tesla to support an approach that allows the assistance system to exceed the permitted top speed by up to ten percent.

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Thomas Langenbucher is an expert in electromobility with experience in the automotive and financial industries. Since 2011, he has been covering electric vehicles, sustainable technologies, and mobility solutions for ecomento.de. Learn more.

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