Tesla (TSLA) has released new footage of its employees testing Full Self-Driving (FSD) in Europe. Although there has been no approval for FSD to be installed and tested in customer vehicles in Europe, Tesla’s internal testing is ongoing in the region.
The FSD (Supervised) test video shared by Tesla is recorded at the infamous Arc de Triomphe roundabout. This specific roundabout in Paris, France makes Tesla’s FSD testing and results particularly interesting.
Arc de Triomphe (The Arc of Triumph) is a monument in Paris. Around this monument, there is a 12-lane roundabout. This specific roundabout is infamous for its difficulty to drive through. There are no lane markings on this roundabout, and traffic is coming and going from and to each connecting lane.
What makes this roundabout even more crazier is the absence of lane markings. French think there is no use of lane markings if no one is goiing to follow them.
Tesla FSD (Supervised) crossed the Arc de Triomphe without any hassle where even good human drivers struggle. One more interesting fact about this roundabout is that if an accident happens, all the parties involved are accused, no single driver is to blame. The burden of responsibility is way above normal when drive at the Arc de Triomphe monument roundabout.
Tesla did not confirm the exact version of the FSD software used in internal testing in Europe. It can be the latest FSD v13.2.9 or the upcoming FSD v14 (possibly the first Unsupervised FSD installment).
Tesla FSD Approval Europe
As Tesla Europe shared the video on X on Friday, the automaker also confirmed that the process of getting FSD approval is well underway.
Tesla’s Country Manager for Belgium, Quentin Vaessen, also posted this video on LinkedIn. He wrote:
We are currently working with regulators to receive approval for Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in Europe, aiming to launch the feature on existing and new vehicles as quickly as possible.
My longtime Tesla friend from Belgium, Steven Peeters, regularly updates about autonomous vehicles and Tesla FSD approval progress in Europe on his YouTube Channel.
In his most recent video from last month, he updated us that the European regulator (UNECE) has opened the door for self-driving functions on highways. European regulators call self-driving funcntions as ‘system-initiated maneuvers’.
“The system shall only initiate a maneuver if the vehicle is located on a highway (including highway slip roads) and it is not withholding HORs,” the document explains ‘system-initiated maneuvers’. HORs (Hands on Requests) means the human driver is required to keep hands on the steering wheel at all times.
Here’s Steven’s take on the updated regulation:
At the end of March, the WP.29 voted positively on the latest DCAS regulation put forward. However, this is only a small step towards FSD in the rest of the world. At the same time, Tesla is very likely to walk the path of the Article 39 exemption on the EU regulations. This COULD let Tesla roll out FSD in the EU (Sorry, UK and Switzerland) by means of a temporary permission at EU level until the UNECE regulations catch up.
The following screenshot of the latest DCAS regulation document defines ‘system-initiated maneuvers’ and their limitations.
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