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Tesla’s most advanced driver-assistance feature is named Full Self-Driving (Supervised), but it can’t actually drive itself. While the feature can handle tasks like accelerating, braking, steering, and parking, the automaker requires drivers to stay alert and intervene at all times. Now, the company has officially renamed it to Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD) in Europe as it works to convince regulators to allow its use on public roads.
Tesla offered to change the name, according to a statement by the German Transport Ministry. The statement says that German Transport Minister Steffen Bilger found the “FSD” name “somewhat misleading.” After discussions with Tesla last month, Bilger said he would now advocate for European regulators to approve the feature “as quickly as possible.” The EU will likely vote on its approval by the end of the year.
On Friday, Tesla began using the Tesla Assisted Driving language on its European sales website. The automaker didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tesla has resisted changing the feature’s name for years, even defending it in court. Last year, California’s Department of Motor Vehicles concluded that Tesla’s use of the terms “Full Self-Driving” and “Autopilot” (an older and less advanced driver-assistance feature) was misleading and violated state law. After the agency threatened to suspend Tesla’s manufacturing and dealer licenses in the state, the automaker stopped using the term “Autopilot.” It has also continued to append “(Supervised)” to the official name of its Full Self-Driving tech.
Tesla drivers say FSD has improved tremendously since its introduction in 2020, and fans online say they’ve been able to take entire trips without intervening in their Tesla’s driving. But FSD has faced plenty of scrutiny. In March, the US federal government opened a probe into the system after nine incidents in which FSD allegedly failed to respond because of reduced visibility and didn’t warn its drivers to take over. Tesla recalled an older version of the software in 2023, after the US government found that it didn’t follow some traffic laws.
Tesla and CEO Elon Musk have pushed for other global markets to approve its driver assistance technology for years. That would likely create a lucrative, software-based funding stream for the world’s most valuable automaker. (Currently, Tesla charges $99 per month for a Full Self-Driving (Supervised) subscription in the US.) Australia and New Zealand approved it last year. The Netherlands became the first European government to give Tesla provisional permission to launch FSD this past spring. A version of the feature became available to Chinese customers in May.
This week, Reuters reported that Tesla presented misleading safety data to European regulators as it lobbied for FSD approval. Safety researchers have accused the automaker of also using misleading statistics to promote its tech in the US.
