Tesla FSD News from Around the World — 9 Updates – CleanTechnica

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Tesla “Full Self Driving” (FSD) is a lot better than it was two or three years ago, and certainly much better than it was 6+ years ago when I bought it with a 2019 Tesla Model 3. Basically, it seems to be at the level now that many of us expected it to be at back in late 2019 or 2020. The question remains, though: how long until it flips from FSD Supervised across the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea (where it just rolled out this week) to FSD Unsupervised across the world? No one knows.

In the meantime, there’s been good as well as bad news on incremental FSD progress and development, with more emphasis on the former or the latter depending on your fundamental opinion of the technology. Let’s roll through the stories that I didn’t already cover a few days ago here and here.

Germany, Italy, and France

No, you can’t use FSD in these European countries yet. However, Tesla is starting to offer ride-alongs to experience Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in Germany, Italy, and France. Here’s the company’s announcement:

Czech Republic

A Czech Republic Chamber of Deputies member has indicated he’s following what is going on with FSD in the Netherlands and he’ll open up discussion on getting approval in the Czech Republic if the Netherlands approves it. Though … this announcement came about after this same person, Martin Kolovratník, was arguing that electric vehicles should no longer have highway toll exemptions in 2027. Here’s the series of exchanges translated, and then in original form on X:

“Times have changed. Electric vehicles are no longer a fringe technology, but a full-fledged part of operations. And if someone uses the highway network, they should follow the same rules as everyone else. That’s the basis of fairness,” Kolovratník posted.

“For this reason, there is no reason to continue favoring one technology at the expense of another… It’s not about ideology, it’s about equal conditions. That’s why we clearly agreed within the new coalition: the exemption for electric vehicles and plug-ins will end in 2027. The decision is predictable, understandable, and economically sound.”

“robot*irl” responded: “I’m happy to pay for the highway, but I have a question about a much more fundamental matter: The Netherlands will approve the operation of Tesla FSD in February 26, a technology that has been proven to reduce accidents. The Czech Republic has the option to immediately recognize this certification. Do you plan to support this step so that we don’t unnecessarily delay?”

Kolovratník’s response: “I know about it. I like it and it seems interesting to me. Once we set up the committees and subcommittees, we’ll open it right away in that transport one. Thanks for the tip, I’ll deliver the report.”

Sweden

A small city in Sweden, Nacka, has approved Tesla FSD testing within its borders. The city is located a few miles from Stockholm. Notably, Sweden is where Tesla is engaged in a longstanding battle with unions, as the company is unwilling to accept a collective bargaining agreement.

“It is good that Nacka can be a place for test-driving self-driving cars. This is future technology that can both facilitate mobility and make transportation cheaper and more environmentally friendly,” the announcement noted.

FSD Traffic Violations

Naturally, it’s not the latest iteration of FSD (because how could it be), but last month the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it had opened an investigation into nearly 3 million Tesla vehicles because of reports of various traffic violations while FSD was in operation. Here’s the announcement text:

“The Office of Defects Investigation (‘ODI’) is opening this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to assess the scope, frequency, and potential safety consequences of FSD executing driving maneuvers that constitute traffic safety violations. This investigation concerns versions of FSD that Tesla has labeled as ‘FSD (Supervised)’ and ‘FSD (Beta).’ Tesla characterizes FSD as an SAE Level 2 partial automation system requiring a fully attentive driver who is engaged in the driving task at all times. Level 2 partial automation systems are designed to support and assist the driver in performing certain aspects of the driving task, requiring a driver to supervise and intervene as necessary.  The driver remains fully responsible at all times for driving the vehicle, including complying with applicable traffic laws. ODI’s investigation will therefore focus, in particular, on whether certain driving inputs within the control authority of FSD forestall the driver’s supervision when they are unexpectedly performed.

“ODI has identified a number of incidents in which the inputs to the dynamic driving task commanded by FSD induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws. Although reports of this nature span a variety of behaviors, the reports appear to most commonly involve two types of scenarios. The first type of scenario involves a vehicle operating with FSD proceeding into an intersection in violation of a red traffic signal. The second type of scenario involves FSD commanding a lane change into an opposing lane of traffic.

“With respect to the first type of scenario, ODI has identified 18 complaints and 1 media report alleging that a Tesla vehicle, operating at an intersection with FSD engaged, failed to remain stopped for the duration of a red traffic signal, failed to stop fully, or failed to accurately detect and display the correct traffic signal state in the vehicle interface. Some complainants also alleged that FSD did not provide warnings of the system’s intended behavior as the vehicle was approaching a red traffic signal.

“ODI has identified six Standing General Order (‘SGO’) reports in which a Tesla vehicle, operating with FSD engaged, approached an intersection with a red traffic signal, continued to travel into the intersection against the red light and was subsequently involved in a crash with other motor vehicles in the intersection. Of these incidents, four crashes resulted in one or more reported injuries. At least some of the incidents appeared to involve FSD proceeding into the intersection after coming to a complete stop. ODI’s pre-investigative work, including coordination with the Maryland Transportation Authority and State Police, indicated that the problem may be repeatable, given that multiple subject incidents occurred at the same intersection in Joppa, Maryland. NHTSA understands that Tesla has since taken action to address the issue at this intersection.

“With respect to the second type of scenario, ODI has identified 2 SGO reports, 18 complaints, and 2 media reports alleging that a Tesla vehicle, operating with FSD engaged, entered opposing lanes of travel during or following a turn, crossed double-yellow lane markings while proceeding straight, or attempted to turn onto a road in the wrong direction despite the presence of wrong-way road signs. Likewise, ODI has identified 4 SGO reports, 6 complaints, and 1 media report alleging that a Tesla vehicle, operating with FSD engaged, proceeded straight through an intersection in a turn-only lane or executed a turn at an intersection in a through lane despite the presence of lane markings or signals. Complaints also alleged that FSD did not provide warnings of the system’s intended behavior. Some complaints alleged that more than one of these failures occurred and, as such, the numbers are not cumulative. Some of the reported incidents appeared to involve FSD executing a lane change into an opposing lane of travel with little notice to a driver or opportunity to intervene.

“ODI’s review will assess whether there was prior warning or adequate time for the driver to respond to the unexpected behavior or to safely supervise the automated driving task. This review will assess any warnings to the driver about the system’s impending behavior; the time given to drivers to respond; the capability of FSD to detect, display to the driver, and respond appropriately to traffic signals; and the capability of FSD to detect and respond to lane markings and wrong-way signage. NHTSA’s review will also consider any updates or modifications to the system(s) that may affect the performance of FSD with respect to obeying traffic safety laws and signals.

“This assessment will focus, in particular, on the types of traffic safety violations described above, as most reports identified thus far have centered around those behaviors. While the behaviors under investigation appear to occur most frequently at intersections, NHTSA’s investigation will encompass any other types of situations in which this behavior may arise, such as when traveling adjacent to a lane of opposing traffic or when approaching railroad crossings. If other evidence received during this investigation involve other types of traffic safety violations, those may be considered as part of this assessment as well.

“To review the ODI reports cited in the Opening Resume ODI Report Identification Number document, go to NHTSA.gov. The SGO reports cited in this Resume are listed below by report ID and are available for download at NHTSA.gov/laws-regulations/standing-general-order-crash-reporting.

“13781-8739-1, 13781-8995-1, 13781-9623-1, 13781-10333-1, 13781-10872-1, 13781-10930-1, 13781-10939-1, 13781-10941-1, 13781-11069-1, 13781-11305-1, 13781-11579-1

“Media reported allegations included as a separate attachment.”

Reportedly, 23 injuries were caused by the reported accidents. Tesla FSD fans claim that FSD prevents more accidents than it causes. However, it should be emphasized that FSD is supposed to be supervised by a human, and it’s not clear at all how many accidents would have occurred without that supervision.

Tesla Launches Another FSD Free Trial in USA, Canada, Mexico

Tesla has launched numerous FSD free trials in North America over the past few years, and now it’s launched another one. In this case, though, you have to have software v14.2 or later on your car, which means you need a car with the latest hardware. (My Tesla Model 3 wouldn’t qualify because 1) I bought FSD 6 years ago anyway (no free trial needed) and 2) I don’t have the latest hardware or v14.2 software.)

This is a 30-day trial. Approximately 88% of Tesla owners don’t have FSD, so this is another attempt to get more customers to buy it. It may also be a data-collection effort to get FSD data from cars and locations it doesn’t normally get that data from. Note that the current cost of FSD is $8,000, or $99/month.

Tesla FSD Advertising & Elon’s Stock Incentive Package

Tesla fans have also noticed recently that Tesla has started advertising FSD on social media, especially X (which Elon Musk owns).

Notably, the 11th tranche of Elon Musk’s new compensation package has the specific target of reaching 10 million active paid FSD subscriptions. If Tesla reaches that, Musk gets more shares of the company.

Elon Musk shunned doing any paid advertising at Tesla for many years. However, that has changed in the past few years to a limited extent, with the company deciding to advertise on X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube most notably.

Live Screen Sharing Request & Fleet Increase

The latest update to Tesla’s Robotaxi app requests that users grant Tesla “Live Screen Sharing” permission, seemingly in order to be able to help guide the car virtually if your robotaxi is not working properly, there is no safety driver (which Tesla still uses), and a passenger reaches out to support for help.

No one outside of Tesla apparently knows how many Tesla test vehicles are in the Austin robotaxi fleet, but the estimate is around 30. Whatever the number is, though, Elon Musk posted earlier this week that they were looking to “roughly double” the number of vehicles in December.

Tesla v14.3 Will Be “Last Big Piece of the Puzzle”

Tesla just rolled out FSD v14.2, but it is v14.3 that is apparently going to be the “last big piece of the puzzle finally.” We don’t know what that means, of course, but that’s what Elon Musk tells us.