Tesla pressured Dutch vehicle regulator to ease Full Self-Driving approval

Tesla spent months pushing the Dutch vehicle regulator RDW to scale back its review of “Full Self-Driving (Supervised),” including disputing a €365,000 bill, according to emails obtained by Reuters. RDW later approved the system and is now asking the EU to do the same. That Dutch approval is the foundation of Tesla’s entire FSD push in Europe. Eight EU countries now allow the system, and a bloc-wide vote could come as early as December.

A Reuters investigation has revealed that Tesla repeatedly urged the Dutch vehicle registration authority, RDW, to speed up the approval process for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance system and make it less demanding. The findings raise questions not only about FSD’s actual safety, but also about the transparency and independence of Europe’s vehicle approval process.