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Elon Musk's automaker Tesla has changed the brand name of its "Full Self-Driving (Supervised)," or FSD, system in Europe to "Assisted Driving" after German regulators called the branding "somewhat misleading." The package is still sold under the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) branding in the U.S. as a $99 per month subscription for Tesla owners. Tesla is gunning for approvals across Europe, where EV sales have been on the rise this year amid soaring fuel costs caused by the war in Iran, and where Tesla sales have shown signs of recovery from a sales slump last year. On Tuesday, the German Federal Ministry of Transport, known as the BMV, said in a statement that Tesla's brand name "FSD" was "somewhat misleading," adding that "It is not a system that takes over the entire driving task. Rather, it is a driver assistance system that can support certain driving tasks such as accelerating, braking, and steering. The driver must remain attentive at all times." Tesla has been pressuring automotive regulators in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, for rapid approval of their system. Reuters reported that in some cases, Tesla's "browbeating" pushed regulators to reduce the intensity of their safety tests and reviews of the company's technology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the U.S. automotive safety regulator, is also investigating Tesla's FSD to determine if it is safe for drivers to use in fog, glaring sun or other reduced visibility conditions, and is investigating Tesla to determine whether FSD caused Tesla drivers to commit traffic violations — some that resulted in collisions. In December 2025, a judge in California determined that Tesla had engaged in deceptive marketing around its Autopilot and FSD systems, falsely implying they were fully automated driving systems. Tesla has countersued the California DMV to try to shed that "false advertiser" label in a Los Angeles superior court. That litigation is ongoing. Autonomous systems expert Missy Cummings, an engineering professor at George Mason University and outspoken critic of Tesla and other autonomous vehicle developers, said renaming FSD isn't a strong enough measure to ensure the systems are safe for broad release in Europe. In an email to CNBC, Cummings said European agencies are "ignoring both past and ongoing NHTSA investigations" into safety defects with Tesla's FSD. "The EU is struggling to keep up in the AI marketplace," she said. "Musk sees this and is definitely bullying them as a result." She criticized the Dutch regulator, known as RDW, for approving Tesla FSD for release in Europe, "based on secretive data," adding that, "The public should demand transparency in any approval of a transportation system with embedded AI." Tesla and RDW did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In its second-quarter earnings update, Tesla said it had 1.48 million "active" FSD subscriptions but did not say how many were activated from free trials or other incentives.
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