EU vote could clear Tesla self-driving cars for Finnish roads

Tesla cars equipped with its FSD Supervised system could appear on Finnish roads within weeks if an EU technical committee approves the system, Yle reports. The committee is due to consider the matter on October 6, although it is not yet certain that a vote will take place.

The system drives the car automatically to a destination selected by the driver. The driver must remain alert, monitor the vehicle and take hold of the steering wheel if a problem arises. The system also monitors the driver’s behaviour.

According to Jukka Juhola, a special adviser at the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, an EU vote would allow the system throughout the bloc. It would also trigger an obligation to bring EU regulations into line with systems of this kind, removing the need for a special exemption procedure.

Traficom said during the summer that it was investigating approval of Tesla’s FSD Supervised system in Finland. The agency has examined how it operates in winter conditions and has worked with Tesla, the Dutch authority that granted approval and other authorities.

Tesla could be first

The approval is currently expected to concern Tesla vehicles, as other manufacturers do not yet offer a comparable system. Traficom said, however, that the decision would apply equally to all carmakers.

Traficom could have approved Tesla vehicles for Finnish traffic earlier through an exemption procedure, as the Netherlands did in April. Juhola described the Dutch decision as an important breakthrough in Europe. Finland has considered the matter carefully because of winter conditions and possible problems linked to the system.

Tesla began adding systems that provide autonomous driving functions to its vehicles in the United States in 2015. Several crashes involving FSD Teslas have been reported over the past decade. In many of the accidents, the driver’s attention is believed to have lapsed.

The FSD Supervised system was demonstrated in Tesla test cars in Turku under an exemption granted by Traficom. The system uses eight cameras, including one inside the car that monitors the driver. The word “supervised” was added to the system’s name because a person must still supervise the driving.

Mikko Pänkäälä, a principal lecturer at Turku University of Applied Sciences, said he believes autonomous systems will become more widespread quickly. He said driver-assistance systems could eventually perform better than the average person, whose concentration can be affected by tiredness, stress or using a phone.

Pänkäälä said drivers in systems available in Europe can always take control of the vehicle. He also noted that motorists have historically been wary of new developments, while modern cars already include systems such as lane monitoring and adaptive cruise control.

Five levels of autonomous driving

Level one is driver assistance, in which the car can steer or regulate speed while the driver remains responsible for driving and continuously monitors the surroundings.

At level two, the car has partial automation, but the driver remains responsible for driving. At level three, conditional automation allows control to be handed to the system under certain conditions.

At level four, the car operates largely on its own, as Waymo taxis do in California. Level five means fully automated driving without any driver involvement. The classification is based on the SAE J3016 standard, which is widely used in the industry.

Ford began offering its BlueCruise system this summer in some models sold in Finland. The system allows a car to travel on motorways while the driver does not hold the steering wheel. The EU committee voted in favour of Ford’s system in 2024.