France Delays Adoption of Tesla's Full Self-Driving Over Safety Concerns

The French government has stated that it is premature to adopt Tesla's advanced driving assistance feature, "Supervised FSD (Full Self-Driving)," at this stage, citing insufficient safety standards.

According to AFP on the 24th local time, French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot stated in a video recently uploaded to the French government's online citizen participation platform Agora, "While this system has brought several technological advancements, France determines that its safety is not yet sufficient to receive approval for introduction in its current form."

Tesla's FSD is an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) designed to assist drivers, allowing vehicles to drive themselves in various environments such as urban roads, highways, traffic lights, and intersections.

Although the vehicle can drive itself, turn the steering wheel, and adjust its speed, the driver must always monitor the road ahead and be ready to take the wheel at any time.

In the event of an accident while driving, the responsibility lies entirely with the driver.

Currently, the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and China have approved the FSD system.

In Europe, starting with the Netherlands this April, Estonia, Belgium, Lithuania, and Denmark have also decided to adopt FSD.

However, Minister Tabarot pointed out that the FSD system poses at least two major problems that threaten road safety.

As the primary concern, Minister Tabarot claimed, "This system can exceed the permitted speed limit."

He explained that if it detects surrounding cars driving faster, it adjusts its speed accordingly, which can lead to traffic violations.

"All of this happens without the driver's explicit request," Minister Tabarot claimed, adding that Tesla vehicles in autonomous driving mode "can drive up to 50% over the speed limit."

Minister Tabarot also highlighted the issue that "it fails to ensure an optimal level of driver attention in complex driving situations such as urban driving, lane changes, intersections, and roundabouts."

The minister emphasized, "Even if the driving assistance system is operating, drivers must bear criminal liability if an accident occurs."

However, Minister Tabarot noted that the possibility of adopting FSD has not been completely ruled out.

He added that authorities are "continuing technical discussions with the Netherlands, other European countries, and Tesla to further refine the system analysis," and that "taking time for evaluation is only natural" to ensure a high level of safety.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.