Tesla’s push to launch Full Self-Driving (FSD) in Europe could take a significant step this week as the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) will get to experience the self-driving technology first hand at the Working Party on Automated/Autonomous and Connected Vehicles (GRVA).
The event, being hosted outside of Europe for the first time in Troy, Michigan by SAE International, will see a number of automakers and technology companies, such as Ford, Mobileye, Aptiv, and others, showcasing their latest automotive technology.
Among those participating in the event is Tesla, who will be bringing four Tesla vehicles equipped with the latest version of Full Self-Driving (Supervised) for drive-along rides. According to the Ride and Drive sign-up sheet, each Tesla vehicle , will have a Tesla engineer behind the wheel to supervise, and will be taking 3 passengers for 30 minute drives between 12:30pm and 6:00pm tomorrow, Thursday, May 23, 2024. (h/t: @techAU)
Interestingly, the GRVA meeting packet lists Tesla among the companies that will be demonstrating “Hands-Free Driving Technology,” suggesting they will be using v12.4, which has so far only rolled out to employees, but importantly removes the steering wheel nag for true hands-free driving.
“FSD Supervised is a level 2 point-to-point ADAS available across North-America that provides a natural, safe and comfortable driving experience both on and off highway. Since version 12 of FSD Supervised, Tesla has transitioned to a full End-2-End AI approach incorporating planning, perception and decision-making which has enabled unparalleled performance and capabilities,” Tesla explains on their sign up sheet.
The involvement of UNECE is significant as Tesla works to get FSD approved for use on European roads. The UNECE shapes regulations for autonomous vehicles within member countries, and the GRVA drives standardization efforts to ensure the safety and performance of autonomous technologies.
It looked like FSD was ready for a launch on European roads when earlier this year when UNECE adopted a new regulation to approve vehicles with Driver Control Assistance Systems (DCAS) ,establishing a standardized framework for systems that support a combination of driving control assistance features, such as braking, accelerating, and overtaking, and not just speed (cruise) control.
However, it was later revealed that the regulations still require all maneuvers to be initiated by the driver, or in other words, not automated, effectively nullifying the benefits of FSD and making it nearly impossible to release in its current form.
Despite this, Tesla has given a demonstration of FSD v12 to the Swedish Transportation Administration. Last month Senior Advisor Rikard Fredriksson went for a 45 minute FSD drive through the streets of Munich, saying the system demonstrated “impressive smooth and natural driving.”
