"We want drivers to try it before winter arrives": Tesla finds another ally in Europe for its assisted driving
After a name change and an adjustment to not exceed speed limits, the odds are increasingly in favor of its European approval.
Almost a dozen of the 27 countries in the European Union have given national approval to Tesla's assisted driving system Tesla (now known as Tesla Assisted Driving or TAD, elsewhere Full Self-Driving or FSD). Finland has been the most recent, giving the green light this Wednesday, November 11, for Tesla customers in its country to experience this system.
The capabilities of Tesla's TAD are already known - similar to other known systems in Europe like Ford's BlueCruise or equivalents from Chinese manufacturers like Xpeng or BYD. These latter are already ready to market it in Europe as soon as legislation allows during 2027, starting with Germany and then spreading to the rest of the countries in the bloc.
Finland approves Tesla's TAD
In this way, Finland joins the other ten countries that have already given the green light to TAD: Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Greece has considered it in the past while other countries, like France or Germany, have been studying it for several months.
For the approval to be across the bloc, Tesla needs the vote in favor of the European Commission, a vote that could take place next December. There, it will need a qualified majority approval, which requires 15 of the 27 countries representing at least 65% of the population of the European Union. Some countries, like Sweden, have expressed opposition, although this could change in the future.
Still far from what it needs for approval across Europe
The reason for the change is simple: in addition to the renaming from FSD to TAD to avoid confusion (the same measure it took to market it in China some time ago), it has changed the settings regarding speed limits. That is, they have corrected the danger that previously existed of the Tesla traveling with the driving assistant (not truly autonomous driving as it needs to be supervised at all times) above speed limits, with the associated danger that also risks the driver (and responsible) being fined.
These 11 countries represent 15.52% of the total. It still needs approval from Germany and France especially, as together they represent 33.65% of the total. Spain and Italy, for their part, account for 24.13% of the entire European Union, so they also hold importance in any voting that requires a qualified majority. In Finland, there are between 8,000 to 9,000 Tesla vehicles compatible with TAD - the vast majority being Model 3 and Model Y equipped with HW4.
Many markets where electric cars are advancing have already approved it
"We want drivers to try it before winter arrives. They represent 0.3% of the entire vehicle fleet in Finland, so it is one of the reasons we can give the green light, the number of cars is small," explained Jukka Juhola, head of the transport authority in Finland (Traficom) to Reuters. This means that they should adapt to the system before using it again in the winter months when snow and frost are more frequent in northern Europe.
7 of the 11 countries that have given the green light are from central and northern Europe, precisely where electric cars have the largest market share compared to hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or traditional combustion engines. Now, if the EU vote were against, all these national approvals would become invalidated and the situation would revert to what it was before April of this year (before the Netherlands gave the green light, with RDW being a major ally of Tesla in Europe).
* This news is an AI translation of the original content. Motenic.com is part of Motor.es.
Fuente: Reuters