Elon Musk has criticised European officials, accusing them of delaying the approval of tests for Tesla’s self-driving technology.
The billionaire has consistently hinted at Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology being introduced across Europe in recent years, as he continues to support the brand’s development of autonomous driving.
Writing on social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Musk responded to a comment asking why there had been so many delays to the introduction of self-driving in Europe.
The Tesla CEO said: “Yeah, it’s insane. Europe is strangling itself with regulation.”
It comes as the Tesla Europe and Middle East X account outlined that it had been working to ship vehicles with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) technology for 12 months.
It stated that demonstrations have been sent to “almost every EU country”, as well as requesting early access, pilot release programmes or exemptions.
According to Tesla’s latest Safety Report, the FSD technology has driven over one million kilometres across 17 different countries.
The Netherlands has been targeted by Tesla as the “main path of success”, with the RDW approval authority having the power to gain an exemption.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk has fumed at European regulations slowing down progress of self-driving technology
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The main way of doing this would be proving compliance with existing regulations and filing an exemption for “yet-to-be-regulated behaviours.”
This would involve Level 2 systems away from motorways, and could include system-initiated lane changes with hands-off the wheel.
The Tesla Europe and Middle East account stated: “Some of these regulations are outdated and rules-based, which makes FSD illegal in its current form. Changing FSD to be compliant with these rules would make it unsafe and unusable in many cases.
“While we have changed FSD to be maximally compliant where it is logical and reasonable, we won’t sacrifice the safety of a proven system or materially deteriorate customer usability.”
It also confirmed that the Dutch authority, RDW, had committed to granting Netherlands National Approval in February 2026.
However, RDW said it does not share details of ongoing applications from manufacturers, given the sensitive nature of the information.
It added that a schedule between the authority and Tesla had been established, which will involve the manufacturer demonstrating that FSD Supervised meets the required standards.
The RDW added: “Both RDW and Tesla are aware of the efforts needed to reach a decision on this matter in February.
Self driving cars are set to be on UK roads by 2027
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REUTERS“Whether this timeline will be met is yet to be determined in the coming period. For the RDW, (road) safety is paramount.”
Tesla has been testing self-driving technology across the UK, with a Model 3 seen driving through London and Swindon.
The electric vehicle drove past Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Downing Street, as well as the infamous Magic Roundabout.
A driver was behind the wheel, although they were not touching it. It is not known if and when the UK Government will give the go-ahead to Tesla’s Full-Self Driving technology.