EU Safety Group Urges Rejection of Tesla FSD Speed Features, Citing UN Violation

A leading European road safety body has urged the European Commission and EU member states to reject two speed-related functions in Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system. The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) said on Tuesday that one of the features violates a United Nations regulation governing driver-assistance systems.

Functions Under Scrutiny

The ETSC raised specific objections to two features as regulators consider granting Tesla's system EU-wide validity. The recommendation comes ahead of further discussions by the EU’s Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV) scheduled for Oct. 6.

The safety group's primary concern is the "speed offset" function, which allows drivers to set a permanent speed of up to 50% above a detected speed limit. The ETSC asserts this is explicitly prohibited under UN Regulation No. 171.

A second feature, "contextual max speed," also drew criticism. This function can use the speed of surrounding traffic to determine the vehicle's maximum speed. The ETSC argued that because many motorists exceed posted limits, using other vehicles as a reference could reinforce and normalize speeding.

The Path to EU Approval

Ad

Tesla's FSD (Supervised) system received provisional national type approval from the Dutch vehicle authority RDW on April 10. This was granted under the EU’s Article 39 exemption procedure, which allows for the approval of new technologies that may not fully align with existing regulations.

For the approval to become valid across the entire bloc, it must be authorized by the European Commission following a positive vote by member-state representatives on the TCMV. According to the ETSC, Tesla did not list the "speed offset" function as requiring an exemption, suggesting the company considered it compliant with current rules—an interpretation the safety group disputes.

Broader Context

Six EU countries—Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, and Slovenia—have already recognized the Dutch approval, permitting the use of FSD (Supervised) within their borders.

The ETSC also cited a recent Belgian test where a Tesla system reportedly ignored 30 km/h zone signs and attempted to overtake cyclists on streets where it was illegal. However, the safety group noted that these findings were not directly related to its current recommendation, as the tests did not utilize the two specific speed-related functions in question.