Tesla's semi-autonomous driving could be adapted to EU norms: France

Tesla's semi-autonomous driving system could be adapted to meet EU and international norms initial tests suggest, French officials said Thursday.

Several million Tesla cars already use FSD in the United States and a number of other countries that have approved the technology like Australia, Canada and South Korea.

European countries have only begun to give conditional approval to the technology, which is formally called Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised.

An AI-enabled computer fed by infomation gathered from the car's cameras drives the vehicle, but the driver has sole legal responsibility and must constantly watch the road and be ready to take over.

Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot indicated Wednesday that road testing of the technology was underway in France after Tesla made two vehicles available.

"As of today, no sticking point has been identified that cannot be overcome," said a ministry official told AFP on Thursday.

"There appear to be no major obstactles to potentially adapting this system to European driving by adjusting its programming," added the official.

The Netherlands authorised FSD Supervised in April, followed by Estonia, Belgium, Lithuania and Denmark. But the approval is based on Tesla receiving an exemption to EU rules.

France has indicated that it supports semi-autonomous driving technology but would like to see Tesla adapt it to meet EU regulations.

One issue is that under EU regulations semi-autonomous vehicles should in no case exceed the speed limit, while according to data supplied by Tesla its vehicles can in certain cases.