Tesla has renamed FSD in Europe. On its German website, what used to be FSD (Supervised) is now called TAD, short for Tesla Assisted Driving. The websites for Belgium, Denmark and other markets have been updated as well. In a statement on October 6, Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport said the rename was proposed by Tesla, in response to possible misunderstandings caused by the name FSD.
The vote slides from October to December
Also on October 6, the EU-wide approval vote that had been on the calendar did not take place. It has been pushed back to December at the earliest. Under the procedure, Tesla needs the support of at least 15 member states and must also clear a specific majority threshold.
Eight countries have already given the green light: the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium, Denmark, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Croatia. The German ministry's statement said the two sides had discussed some technical issues and that it supports moving the system into the EU approval process, but Germany itself is not yet on the approved list.
A new name on the website does not mean the feature is available across the EU. As things stand, the same software works in the Netherlands, has been renamed in Germany while awaiting approval, and has not yet entered the approval process in more than a dozen other member states.
China renamed first, Europe follows
On the rename itself, China got there first. In May this year, Tesla China began calling its FSD-related product "Tesla Assisted Driving" and kept the price at 64,000 yuan. The FSD (Supervised) page on Tesla's website lists 16 countries and regions, China among them, though being on the list does not mean the software has been rolled out. On October 9, Tesla China's customer service gave the media this response:
"We are actively moving forward with preparations for the Tesla Assisted Driving software."
There is still no confirmed rollout date in China, and Tesla has not given any milestone. The two markets are moving in the same direction: dropping the "Full Self-Driving" wording in favor of "assisted driving". From a regulatory angle, that matches how China has tightened the language allowed in driver-assistance marketing over the past two years; on the product side, the feature itself has not changed because of the rename, and the company has not announced a new version number.
The subscription math
In the US, Tesla stopped selling the one-time FSD purchase on February 14 and moved to a $99-per-month subscription. A rough calculation: that comes to $1,188 a year, or about 8,400 yuan at current exchange rates, so China's 64,000-yuan purchase price equals roughly seven and a half years of the US subscription. Tesla has not yet published subscription pricing for Europe.
An April analysis from Counterpoint Research argued that China and Europe could be the next source of growth for the FSD subscription business, provided regulatory approval and vehicle sales come through. Each time the EU vote slips, that revenue moves back with it. Neither the EU side nor Tesla has offered any forecast on whether the December vote can reach 15 member states.
Domestic rivals in China are watching too. Horizon Robotics founder Yu Kai said at a shareholder meeting in June that if FSD does enter China it would create a "catfish effect", and that for Horizon the "opportunities far outweigh the challenges". So far, both Europe and China are stuck at the same step: renamed and waiting for clearance.
Sources: Daily Economic News, statement from Germany's Federal Ministry of Transport, CocoLoop, Counterpoint Research; Daily Economic News' reporting was used to verify the eight-country list, the 15-member-state threshold and the 64,000-yuan price.