Overview
- Tesla currently holds national approvals for its Europe-specific Full Self‑Driving system in eight EU countries but the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles has not given a bloc-wide endorsement and a vote has been pushed to at least December 2026.
- Germany has publicly backed faster EU approval after talks with Tesla and agreed to a limited speed-offset of up to 10 percent above posted limits while discussing a rename to make the system’s assisted nature clearer.
- Tesla’s central safety claim that the software causes seven times fewer crashes than the average US driver is disputed by independent researchers and Reuters-style examinations that say the company’s methodology provides no clear evidence.
- The Dutch provisional approval was based on about 18 months of tests that RDW said included over 1,000 trials and roughly 1.7–1.8 million kilometres, but the underlying dataset remains sealed as a commercial secret and unavailable for outside review.
- Regulators are split because the Europe-specific software removed some US features but kept a speed-raising function that can substantially exceed limits, so member states are running extra on-road checks and the December TCMV vote will determine EU market access and broader sales consequences.