From “FSD (Supervised)” to “Tesla Assisted Driving”– a new name aims to secure EU approval
In the effort to obtain EU-wide approval for its driver assistance system Full Self-Driving (Supervised), also known as FSD (Supervised), Tesla has met a demand from the German federal government and renamed its autonomous driving assistance system to "Tesla Assisted Driving". Transport Minister Steffen Bilger (CDU) had described the previous name as "misleading".
Image: Tesla
Tesla has long been striving to obtain EU-wide approval for FSD (Supervised). The system enables automated door-to-door driving, though the driver must constantly remain ready to take control of the vehicle. While FSD has been approved for some time in North America, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea, several EU countries have now followed suit this year: the Netherlands led the way in April, followed by Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia, Czechia and Croatia — and most recently, Slovakia announced its approval.
However, this is not yet a standard EU type approval but rather a provisional EU type approval under Article 39 of EU Regulation 2018/858, issued by the Dutch road authority RDW. This approval has since been recognised by the other countries mentioned.
Tesla is aiming for EU-wide approval as quickly as possible and does not want to seek individual recognition of the Dutch approval from each of the 27 member states. Instead, it is pushing for a vote within the EU’s Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV)—though this vote has already been postponed several times, most recently to December.
German Transport Minister as the catalyst
The reason for the delay in the vote was concerns from several countries that have not yet approved FSD — including Germany. However, in a notable move last week, German Federal Minister of Transport Steffen Bilger (CDU) publicly addressed the issue.
Bilger stated: “Currently, discussions are underway at the European level regarding the approval of Tesla’s driver assistance system. There are many technical details to clarify, as well as questions of liability. I discussed these matters with Tesla in September. We quickly reached a mutual understanding and achieved a constructive agreement. On this basis, I will now advocate for the system to be approved across Europe as soon as possible. My goal is for Tesla drivers to be able to benefit from Assisted Driving throughout the entire EU as quickly as possible.”
“FSD” label deemed misleading
One of Bilger’s conditions was the renaming of the driver assistance system, as the current name “FSD” is misleading. “This is not a system that takes over the full driving task. In reality, it is a driver assistance system that can support specific driving tasks such as accelerating, braking and steering. However, the driver must remain attentive at all times,” according to the Transport Ministry.
According to Bilger, Tesla has therefore agreed to rename the system to “Tesla Assisted Driving” — and has already implemented this change in Europe, though not worldwide. On Tesla’s website in Germany and many other European countries, the new designation has now replaced the previous FSD label.
Major EU States must approve
For EU-wide approval, a qualified majority of at least 15 of the 27 member states is required, representing at least 65 per cent of the EU’s population. Germany’s support as the largest EU member state is therefore crucial for Tesla. The ties between Tesla and Germany are already strong, as Tesla operates its only European factory in Grünheide near Berlin, where it produces the Model Y offered with “Tesla Assisted Driving” or a preparation for it.
Germany’s support for “Tesla Assisted Driving” could pave the way for the other three major EU states — France, Italy and Spain — to also give their approval. France, in particular, has recently expressed criticism of the system. However, if France continues to withhold its approval, Tesla would need to convince almost all other EU member states individually to support it.
bmv.de (Bilger, in German), heise.de, tesla.com (product page in German)