The key facts

  • Traficom granted Tesla a temporary permit for the Assisted Driving system in Finland
  • The system was renamed from Full Self-Driving (Supervised) to Tesla Assisted Driving
  • The system was previously approved in the Netherlands, Estonia, Belgium, Lithuania and Denmark

Traficom permit

The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom announced that Tesla has received temporary approval to use its driver assistance system Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD) on the country's roads. According to the agency, the company 'can immediately begin offering the system to its customers in Finland.' The decision became possible after Tesla made changes to the technology.

What the system can do and why the new name

TAD allows the car to automatically steer, accelerate and brake, but the driver must remain behind the wheel and monitor the system's operation. The system was previously called Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised; it was renamed Tesla Assisted Driving to more accurately describe its functions. Traficom senior specialist Jukka Juholа explained that the new name reflects the 'true nature of the system' and distinguishes driver assistance technologies from fully autonomous vehicles.

Context: the EU has no common rules

The approval in Finland comes against the backdrop of a regulatory deadlock in the European Union: rules that would allow fully driverless cars have still not been adopted, so companies are promoting their systems at the national and regional level. Differences in national regulations complicate the deployment of fully driverless vehicles — companies have to obtain approvals not only at the state level but also at the local level. In Europe, the Tesla system has already been approved in the Netherlands (in April), followed by Estonia, Belgium, Lithuania and Denmark. Outside Europe, the technology is available in the USA, Australia, Canada and South Korea.