Tesla has renamed “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” as “Assisted Driving” in Europe after Germany’s transport ministry called the brand “somewhat misleading”. In the US the system is still sold under the original name at $99 a month, and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are scrutinising it.
Tesla has changed the name of its driver-assistance package in Europe, CNBC reported on Friday, October 9, after German regulators criticised the branding.
What Changed
“Full Self-Driving (Supervised)”, or FSD, is now called “Assisted Driving” in Europe. In the US it is still sold as Full Self-Driving (Supervised), as a $99-a-month subscription.
On Tuesday, the German Federal Ministry of Transport said the “FSD” name was “somewhat misleading”. “It is not a system that takes over the entire driving task,” it said. “Rather, it is a driver assistance system that can support certain driving tasks such as accelerating, braking, and steering. The driver must remain attentive at all times.”
Why Europe Matters to Tesla
Tesla is pushing for approvals across Europe, where EV sales have risen this year amid higher fuel costs caused by the war in Iran, and where Tesla’s sales have shown signs of recovery from last year’s slump.
The company has pressed regulators, especially in the Netherlands, for quick approval. CNBC noted a Reuters report that Tesla’s “browbeating” had in some cases led regulators to reduce the intensity of their safety tests. Tesla and the Dutch regulator RDW did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Scrutiny in the United States
- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating whether FSD is safe in fog, glaring sun and other poor visibility, and whether it caused drivers to commit traffic violations, some resulting in collisions
- In December 2025 a California judge found Tesla had engaged in deceptive marketing of Autopilot and FSD, falsely implying they were fully automated
- Tesla has countersued the California DMV, and that case is ongoing
A Critic’s View
Missy Cummings, an engineering professor at George Mason University and a critic of autonomous-vehicle developers, said renaming the system is not enough. She argued European agencies are “ignoring both past and ongoing NHTSA investigations” and criticised the Dutch approval as based on “secretive data”.
How Many Use It
In its second-quarter update, Tesla said it had 1.48 million active FSD subscriptions, but did not say how many came from free trials or other incentives.
Image: A 2025 Tesla Model Y at a festival in Germany (file photo). Photo: Alexander Migl / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
