Some Good News for Tesla Investors on Full Self-Driving in Europe
Some good news for Tesla on its full self-driving (FSD) software in Europe: Lithuania has approved FSD (supervised). There are a lot of misconceptions about this issue, so I thought I’d try to clear some of them up.
How the latest European Union country approved FSD
Lithuania is an EU member state, and its regulator has decided to exercise an option under Article 39 of REGULATION (EU) 2018/858. Under this regulation, an EU country may grant approval for “new technologies or new concepts” which is “valid only in the territory of the Member State of that approval authority.
That’s how the Netherlands regulator approved FSD in that country. Furthermore, other EU countries are allowed to “accept the provisional EU type-approval” and, in doing so, grant approval in their own country.
That’s the route that Lithuania took.
Why it's good news for Tesla
Lithuania’s decision is a major plus. Although it’s a country of fewer than 3 million people, it’s an EU member state that chose not to wait for the EU-wide vote on approving Tesla’s FSD. That’s the main approval track, which requires a qualified majority vote of at least 15 member states and 65% of the EU population.
If other countries decide to do the same before and after the EU vote, it could build momentum for widespread FSD approvals in Europe. And in turn, that will raise awareness of FSD’s potential, enhance the value and unique selling point of a Tesla vehicle, and start the ball rolling toward robotaxis in Europe.