This is the timeline suggested by Tesla Europe over the weekend in a post on the social media platform The company has also been repeatedly sharing test drive videos to show progress, claiming to have covered more than 1 million kilometers across 17 EU countries.
“Our main path to success is to partner with the Dutch approval body RDW to obtain an exemption for this feature. This involves proving compliance with current regulations (UN-R-171 DCAS) + submitting an exemption (Article 39 EU) for behaviors that are not yet regulated such as Level 2 off-highway systems, system-initiated lane changes with hands off the wheel, etc.,” Tesla wrote in the post. “Some of these regulations are outdated and rules-based, making FSD illegal in its current form. Changing the FSD to be compliant with these rules would make it unsafe and unusable in many cases. While we change the FSD to be maximally compliant when it makes sense and reasonable to do so, we will not sacrifice the integrity of a proven system or materially degrade customer usability.”
Meanwhile, RDW itself responded to Tesla’s announcement. While it confirms a timeline has been established with Tesla to approve “FSD Supervised,” a version in which the driver remains fully responsible and supervised, it states that according to that timeline, Tesla must prove by February 2026 that “FSD Supervised” meets the requirements.
Exemption in all EU countries?
In its statement, RDW also explains the general procedure. If a manufacturer seeks to introduce a new technology into Europe for which there is currently no legislation, it can use the European procedure. This legislation allows for an exemption from market approval for new technologies within the European Union. To secure this exemption, the Member State must submit an application to the European Commission on behalf of the manufacturer. In this case, the Netherlands (via the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) handles the request. This process is explained in European Union (EU) Regulation 2018/858.
Approval requires a majority decision in the relevant EU committee. If a majority is achieved, the manufacturer obtains a new technology exemption, valid in all EU Member States, enabling EU-wide rollout. If a majority is not reached, the exemption remains valid only in the Netherlands, and the technology may only be used there. Other Member States can then decide independently whether to adopt the approval on their territory.
However, before a manufacturer can apply for an exemption from market approval for new technologies in the EU, it must first prove that the vehicle or system complies with current regulations. This requires completion of a comprehensive testing procedure with a type approval authority. In the Netherlands, this authority is the RDW (Dutch Vehicle Authority). These tests are currently still ongoing.
In this post, Tesla urged its customers to express gratitude to the authority and share their enthusiasm. However, RDW was not happy with this approach: “We thank everyone who has already reached out to us and ask that you do not contact us regarding this matter. Such inquiries unnecessarily occupy our customer service team’s time.” “Furthermore, this has no bearing on whether the plan will proceed or not. Road safety is RDW’s top priority: approval is only possible after the safety of the system has been conclusively proven.”
Additionally, contrary to Elon Musk’s initial predictions, there appears to be limited real interest from other automakers in licensing Tesla’s FSD system for their own vehicles — a point that Musk himself now acknowledges: “When older cars sometimes reach out, they half-heartedly discuss implementing FSD for a small program in 5 years with requirements that are unworkable for Tesla, and make absolutely no sense,” Musk wrote on social media.
insideevs.com, rdw.nl (answer in Dutch), x.com (Misk), x.com (Tesla)
This article was first published by Sebastian Schaal for the German edition of Electrive magazine.
