Tesla has given a demonstration of the capabilities of their Full Self-Driving (FSD) software to an official from the Swedish Transport Administration in Germany, marking the first time we have seen an official use of FSD on European roads.
Tesla first released FSD Beta in the US in October 2020, deploying it to a select few testers and employees. Since then the feature has also been released in Canada, but has yet to expand beyond North America. Part of the reason FSD has not been released yet in Europe is due to stricter regulations on autonomous driving systems. These stricter regulations have even impacted the basic Autopilot system, for example by limiting automatic lane changes and how sharp the vehicle can turn.
It looked like Tesla had a viable path forward when the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) adopted a new regulation to approve vehicles with Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS). However, it was later learned that even these new regulations were too strict for FSD, as Rohan Patel, Tesla’s former Vice President, Public Policy and Business Development confirmed that they didn’t allow for system-initiated maneuvers, effectively making it impossible for FSD to be certified in Europe under the current regime.
Despite this road block, Tesla has given a demonstrations of FSD’s capabilities to the Swedish Transport Administration in Germany.
According to a post on LinkedIn by Rikard Fredriksson, a Senior Advisor at the Swedish Transport Administration, he was in the passenger seat for an extended drive with FSD doing the driving. The demonstration was given by Tesla’s Global Policy Lead, Marc Van Impe, and Phillip Holz, Lead Vehicle Operator ADAS Test Operations, in a Midnight Cherry Red Model Y with the latest version of FSD (Supervised) installed.
Fredriksson posted a few photos from his experience, with the navigation showing he was taken on at least a 45km (28 miles) journey along the streets of Munich. Fredriksson was apparently impressed with what he saw, saying FSD (Supervised) demonstrated “impressive smooth and natural driving.”
We have previously reported that Tesla has been testing FSD on European roads with a small team since at least 2021, but this is now the first time we have officially seen Tesla’s FSD being used in Europe.
The new UNECE regulations noted above don’t come into effect until November, but as we noted, even when they do, they will not be conducive to FSD as they do not allow for system-initiated maneuvers, effectively nullifying the system’s benefits. With the advancement in the capabilities of FSD v12, it hopefully won’t be long before UNECE officials see the benefits of FSD and make the necessary changes to allow the system to be used to its full potential on European roads.
