Tesla Cuts FSD Speed Margin in Europe From 50% to 10% Over the Limit, Renames It Tesla Assisted Driving

Photo: S5A-0043 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Tesla's driver-assistance software in Europe just got a new name and a much shorter leash on speed. The Dutch vehicle authority RDW has approved an update that cuts how far FSD (Supervised) can drive over the speed limit in Europe from 50% to 10%, and renames the system "Tesla Assisted Driving."

The RDW announced the change on November 3. It is Tesla's clearest concession yet to European regulators who have objected to the system's speeding, and it comes a month before EU member states are expected to vote on whether to approve the software across the entire bloc. Here is what changes for drivers, where the system is legal today, and how it compares with FSD in the United States.

What Changes for Tesla Drivers in Europe

The update arrives over the air on Tesla vehicles with Hardware 4 (HW4) or later that have the system. According to the RDW, it makes four changes:

1. A 10% speed margin cap. The "speed margin" lets the system deviate from the detected speed limit "for safety and traffic flow." The maximum drops from +50% to +10%.
2. A 0% default. The margin resets to zero every time the car is started, so drivers must choose to add any tolerance on each trip.
3. Other speed functions off by default. The RDW says other speed-related functions are now disabled by default. It did not list which ones.
4. A new name. "FSD Supervised" becomes "Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD)" on the car's screen, in the owner's manual and in other driver information.

The RDW stressed that the rename does not change what the system does. "The driver remains responsible for driving," the agency said. It remains a supervised driver-assistance system, not a self-driving car.

What Is the RDW, and Why Does It Decide for Europe?

The RDW is the Netherlands' vehicle authority, and it is the agency Tesla chose to certify its software in Europe. On April 10, 2026, it granted FSD (Supervised) what it called a "European type approval with provisional validity in the Netherlands," after more than 18 months of testing, including over 1.6 million kilometers on European roads. The Netherlands became the first European country to allow the system.

That approval was issued under Article 39 of EU Regulation 2018/858, a route for new technology that existing rules do not fully cover. It is valid in the Netherlands, and other member states can choose to recognize it. For the November update, the RDW said it checked the changes, found "no adverse or unintended effects," and folded them into the existing approval without amending or extending it.

Where Is Tesla FSD Approved in Europe?

As of November 3, the system is approved in 10 EU countries: the Netherlands, plus nine states that recognize the Dutch approval. The RDW notified each of them of the update.

• Approved: Netherlands, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
• Not approved: Germany, France, Italy and Spain, among others.
• Price: €99 per month in European markets, according to InsideEVs, matching the $99 US subscription.

The decision on approval for all 27 member states sits with the EU's Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles (TCMV). Passing requires a qualified majority: at least 15 member states representing at least 65% of the EU population. That vote has been pushed back several times and is now expected in December at the earliest. The RDW says the committee's talks are confidential.

Why Europe Pushed Back on Speeding

Speed has been the main sticking point, and the 10% figure did not come out of nowhere.

• June: Electrek reported a letter from the Swedish Transport Administration urging the TCMV to vote against the system unless Tesla removed its ability to exceed posted limits, warning it "risks undermining both the legal framework and the expected safety benefits of vehicle automation."
• September: A Brussels pedestrian-safety group tested the system in Belgium, which had already approved it, and found it speeding in 55% of the 30 km/h segments it drove. France cited urban speeding as one reason it will not recognize the Dutch approval.
• October 6: Germany's transport ministry said it would support EU approval after talks with Tesla produced agreement on a 10% tolerance and a new name. Transport Minister Steffen Bilger had called "Full Self-Driving" misleading. The ministry said "small excesses can sometimes smooth traffic flow."

How This Differs From FSD Speed Settings in the US

In the United States, Tesla's version of the software is still sold as Full Self-Driving (Supervised), subscription-only at $99 a month since February 2026. The RDW has said the European software "differs substantially" from the US version, and in the US there is no regulator-imposed percentage cap on how far over the limit it may drive.

Since FSD v14, speed in the US is governed by speed profiles rather than a separate offset setting. Tesla's owner's manual lists five: Sloth ("drives under the speed limit"), Chill, Standard ("adjusts speed to match the flow of traffic"), Hurry and Mad Max ("drives more quickly than in the Hurry profile, with more frequent lane changes"). Drivers can switch profiles on the fly with the steering-wheel scroll wheel. With update 2025.44, Tesla made Sloth the default for new owners.

US regulators have taken notice anyway. In October 2025, after drivers reported that Mad Max could run above posted limits, NHTSA said it was "in contact with the manufacturer to gather additional information," adding that "the human behind the wheel is fully responsible for driving the vehicle and complying with all traffic safety laws." That same month the agency opened an investigation into about 2.9 million FSD-equipped Teslas over reported traffic-law violations.

Related: Tesla FSD Supervised Europe safety data · FSD v14 Lite rolls out to HW3 · Tesla FSD Supervised safety report