Tesla may have celebrated a regulatory win in Europe a bit too soon. Tesla claimed in a weekend social media post that the Dutch regulator RDW was set to approve the use of its driver assistance system, known as Full Self-Driving or FSD, in February 2026. The organization handles the licensing and registration of vehicles in the Netherlands and is seen as a critical step for Tesla to get approval for and eventually roll out FSD to consumers across Europe.
The company wrote that RDW had committed to granting Netherlands national approval in February 2026 and encouraged the public to contact the regulator to express excitement. It seems RDW is not quite in line with Tesla. The Dutch regulator clarified in a statement on their website that Tesla plans to demonstrate FSD Supervised in February. Bloomberg was first to report on RDW’s statement.
The statement from RDW reads that both the regulator and Tesla know what efforts need to be made to reach a decision in February, but whether that schedule will be met remains to be seen. The regulator emphasized that traffic safety is paramount.
Tesla vehicles come standard with a driver assistance system called Autopilot. For an additional fee of eight thousand dollars, owners can upgrade to FSD Supervised, which provides additional automated driving features, including steering and lane changes on highways and surface streets. It is crucial to note that FSD is not a self-driving system and requires the driver to remain engaged with their hands on the wheel at all times. FSD is currently available in Australia, Canada, China, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and the United States.