Tesla CEO Elon Musk has projected confidence that the European Union will soon
green-light the carmaker’s “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) system, but
emails from some European regulators show marked skepticism
toward the technology and its stated safety benefits.
Tesla’s “FSD (Supervised)” technology got the nod from Dutch
road regulator RDW in April. RDW is now seeking EU approval for
FSD, with a key committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
“We expect to be approved in a lot of other countries,” Musk
told analysts on an April 22 conference call, adding that Tesla
would then seek approval for driverless robotaxis in Europe.
Tesla has a lot riding on FSD approval in Europe, where it is
trying to regain market share it has lost over the last two
years. The EV maker charges a monthly subscription for FSD,
which can drive itself under certain circumstances but requires
the driver to be fully attentive at all times.
But in previously unreported email correspondence,
regulators in the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and
Norway – who could prove critical to Musk’s approval push – have
raised a number of concerns over the technology.
Those include the system’s tendency to speed, whether it is
safe to use on icy roads and drivers’ ability to circumvent
features designed to prevent cell-phone use, according to the
emails, which were seen by Reuters through public records
requests.
They also expressed frustration with Tesla’s strategy of
publicly encouraging vehicle owners to pressure regulators to
approve FSD.
The EU committee will hear on Tuesday from Dutch officials
about why they approved Tesla’s FSD and why other EU member
states should follow suit.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
For FSD to be approved, committee members representing 55%
of EU member states and 65% of the bloc’s population must vote
“yes.” There is no vote scheduled on FSD this week. The next
committee meetings are expected in July and October.
REGULATORS AWAIT DOCUMENTATION
The emails reviewed by Reuters showed a Tesla policy manager
lobbying Swedish authorities to approve FSD just four days after
the Netherlands announced its decision on April 10, before
regulators had reviewed any documentation on the technology.
Tesla also approached Estonia and Finland and asked the
countries to recognize the Dutch approval, the countries said
and the emails showed.
Regulators for Sweden, Finland and Estonia told Reuters they
would review the material presented at Tuesday’s committee
meeting before making any decisions.
Some Wall Street analysts have projected a widespread rollout of
FSD across Europe within months. Tesla has said FSD approval in
Europe is crucial to increasing sales in the region, which fell
27% in 2025 amid protests over Musk’s political activities.
In a confidential presentation included in the
correspondence with regulators, Tesla said it expected “EU-wide”
approval in the second or third quarter of this year.
Michael Ashley Schulman, a partner at Cerity Partners, which
manages investments in Tesla, said European approval of FSD
could boost profit and help fend off competition from Chinese
automakers.
SPEEDING, ICY ROADS A CONCERN
Hans Nordin, a Swedish Transport Agency investigator, wrote
in an April 15 email that he was “quite surprised” to learn
Tesla allowed FSD to speed, and said that should not be
permitted.
Jukka Juhola, an official in Finland’s transportation
agency, wrote to other regulators in January questioning Tesla’s
demos of FSD in wintry conditions.
“Are they really introducing a system that allows hands-free
driving also on icy 80 km/h roads?” Juhola asked. The Nordic
regulators also questioned how the system would handle moose on
the roads.
Regulators also discussed whether Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving
(Supervised)” branding could mislead drivers into thinking the
car drives itself.
Nordin, the Swedish Transport Agency investigator, asked in
a January email whether the name “risks giving consumers a
misleading impression” of FSD’s abilities.
Some regulators were also complimentary of the software. A
Danish regulator, Frank Schack Rasmussen, said in an October
email that the vehicles “did perform very well in the complex
traffic” of rush hour in Copenhagen. A Dutch regulator recounted
how well the system performed around the Arc de Triomphe in
Paris.
Anders Eriksson, a Swedish Transport Agency investigator,
told Reuters that the country is “generally positive” on
automated driving technology, as long as it follows regulations.
TESLA ENTHUSIASTS PUSH APPROVAL
Regulators also discussed being inundated with emails from
Tesla enthusiasts pushing for approval.
Musk has long criticized European regulators for what he
calls unnecessary delays.
During Tesla’s November annual shareholder meeting, Musk
said, “we obviously need to get it approved in Europe,” and
encouraged customers to pressure regulators.
Tesla owners obliged. One Norwegian Tesla owner wrote that
denying FSD approval could “lead to the loss of lives that would
have been saved with this technology.”
Days after Musk’s speech, Stein-Helge Mundal of the
Norwegian Public Roads Administration wrote that regulators
“will need to use a lot of effort to answer misled consumers.”
Ivan Komusanac, Tesla’s EU Policy and Business Development
manager, apologized to Mundal, noting that regulators elsewhere
had also complained.
“Such emails are usually not helpful for the approval
process,” Komusanac wrote.
Dutch regulators have not released any research or data that
explained their approval of FSD.
“We say: Trust us on this, we tested it extensively,” RDW
General Manager Bernd van Nieuwenhoven told Reuters last month.