France has officially decided not to approve Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system in its current state, citing significant safety concerns. The announcement was made by French Minister of Transportation Philippe Tabarot, who explained that the safety trade-offs are not yet sufficient to allow the technology on public roads.
According to French officials, key issues include the system’s speed behavior and driver monitoring. Tabarot noted that FSD can exceed speed limits by up to 50 percent to match surrounding traffic without driver input, such as driving 70 km/h in a 50 km/h zone. Regulators also raised concerns that the current driver monitoring setup does not guarantee sufficient driver focus during complex urban situations like roundabouts and lane changes. Additionally, officials emphasized that French guidelines require at least one hand to remain on the steering wheel.
While five smaller European Union countries have approved FSD for local testing, France joins Germany and Italy in taking a cautious stance. An official EU-wide approval vote requires support from 15 member states representing at least 65 percent of the EU population, with the next potential vote expected in October.
Elon Musk responded to the decision on X, warning that delaying the approval of FSD in France will cost lives. Tesla continues to point to data from over 12 billion miles driven with the software, arguing that its technology results in far fewer crashes than human drivers and holds the potential to significantly improve road safety worldwide.
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Sounds straightforward to make an EU version that omits the most aggressive speed profile, and possibly omit the hands free setting.