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Finland clears Tesla assisted driving tech after changes

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Finnish transport authority Traficom granted provisional road approval to Tesla's driver-assistance technology after the company tightened speed-control settings to curb speeding. The measure impacts an estimated 8,000 to 9,000 compatible Tesla vehicles, which make up roughly 0.3 percent of Finland's overall automotive fleet. While Finland joins roughly a dozen European nations in greenlighting the feature, the state remains uncommitted regarding the upcoming European Union vote expected as early as December. Securing permanent implementation will require backing from the bloc's largest member states to reach a qualified majority.

Key points

  • National approvals remain temporary and will be completely invalidated if the European Un…: National approvals remain temporary and will be completely invalidated if the European Union rejects the technology during its vote.
  • Gaining widespread adoption across Europe requires Tesla to win the support of the bloc's…: Gaining widespread adoption across Europe requires Tesla to win the support of the bloc's largest member states for a qualified majority.
  • Finnish authorities intentionally granted the clearance ahead of winter to let drivers be…: Finnish authorities intentionally granted the clearance ahead of winter to let drivers become familiar with supervised automated driving in mild conditions.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

STOCKHOLM, Nov 11 : Finland granted provisional approval on Wednesday for Tesla's Assisted Driving system (TAD) after the US automaker made changes to the technology, allowing its use on Finnish roads ahead of an EU-wide vote.

Nearly a dozen countries, including Slovakia and Belgium, have granted provisional approvals for the technology, which allows vehicles to steer, accelerate and brake automatically under driver supervision.

However, Tesla has yet to secure backing from any of the EU's largest member states, whose support is likely to be crucial to winning approval across the bloc.

The technology needs support from a qualified majority of EU states. A rejection at EU level would invalidate national approvals already granted.

Finland's transport authority, Traficom, said it approved the system after Tesla renamed it from "Full Self-Driving" and tightened speed-control settings that critics said encouraged speeding.

The regulator stressed its decision did not commit Finland to support the technology in the EU-wide vote, which it expects this winter. However, it said it wanted drivers to gain experience with the system before driving conditions worsen.

"We wanted to go…

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