Tesla renames "Full Self-Driving" in Europe after German pressure

Tesla has changed the name of its driver assistance system in Europe, after Germany's transport ministry objected that "Full Self-Driving" was misleading. It will now be called Tesla Assisted Driving.

The change is a big climbdown for Tesla, which has used the name "Full Self-Driving (Supervised)" for years, even though the system requires a human driver to watch the road and take over when needed.

"Somewhat misleading"

Germany's transport minister, Steffen Bilger, said earlier this month that calling the software Full Self-Driving was somewhat misleading, because it does not perform the whole task of driving. According to the ministry, he spoke to Tesla last month, and the company suggested the new name.

Mr Bilger said he would now support approval of Tesla Assisted Driving across Europe, ahead of an EU-wide vote that could take place later this year. Tesla's chief executive, Elon Musk, thanked him on X.

A long campaign

Mr Musk has spent years pressing for the system to be approved in Europe. In June 2025 he wrote that it "will save lives of people in the car, as well as vulnerable road users like pedestrians, cyclists, and pets". In March this year, he complained that the EU's "extreme regulatory burden" stifles innovation.

A few weeks later, the Netherlands became the first European country to approve the system. This week, Reuters reported that Tesla's campaign for European approval had been "built on faulty company safety research", and that the Dutch vehicle safety regulator, the RDW, had faced fierce pressure from Tesla and its supporters online.

What the system does

The software has become far more capable over the years. What began as little more than lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control can now steer, brake and accelerate on motorways and town streets, and pull in and out of parking spaces. Some owners use it for almost all of their driving.

But the system has been at the centre of US federal investigations and civil lawsuits over crashes in which it was allegedly in use. Its less capable predecessor, Autopilot, was linked to dozens of deaths, and Tesla dropped Autopilot earlier this year after a judge ruled it had engaged in deceptive marketing about its capabilities.

Why names matter

Road safety experts have long argued that names suggesting a car can drive itself encourage drivers to take their eyes off the road or their hands off the wheel. Systems that still need a human to supervise them are classed as driver assistance, and the driver remains legally responsible for the car.

And in the UK?

The UK is not part of the EU approval process and sets its own rules. The Automated Vehicles Act 2024 creates a legal framework for genuinely self-driving cars, under which the company behind an approved system, not the person in the driving seat, becomes responsible for how the car drives while the system is in control. Until then, drivers in the UK must remain in full control of their vehicle at all times, whatever their car's systems are called.