Firmware
Tesla Autopilot Europe restrictions explained: How regulations are hindering a Full Self-Driving future
Tesla Model S owner Steven Peeters believes in Elon Musk’s vision of a Full Self-Driving future. Being in the IT field for 20 years, the independent consultant is fond of his Model S’ tech capabilities, particularly the improvements that Tesla has been rolling out to his vehicle’s Autopilot driver-assist system. Since replacing his Model S P85D with a P100D, Steven has kept a close eye on the evolution of Tesla’s Autopilot suite, which has grown into a robust driver-assist system that enables lane-keeping, lane-changes, and with the Navigate on Autopilot update, highway on-ramp to off-ramp capabilities.
Unfortunately for the Model S owner, he also happens to reside in Europe, which adjusted its rules for driver-assist systems under its new UN/ECE r79 regulations. Tesla has been required to adjust its vehicles’ features according to these regulations, which resulted in several of Autopilot’s features being restricted. In a message to Teslarati, Peeters explained that these regulations adversely affects the user experience of Tesla owners, to the point where some driving maneuvers that Autopilot was already proficient at took several steps back.
Peeters, who runs a Tesla-themed YouTube channel that chronicles his Autopilot tests and his family road trips on his Model S, took it upon himself to perform a deep dive of Europe’s UN/ECE r79 regulations, in an attempt to see exactly how the region’s updated rules negatively affected the electric car maker’s driver-assist systems. Explaining his efforts, the Model S owner stated that it is pertinent to raise awareness on these regulations, especially since these could put a roadblock for the eventual rollout of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving features. “I wanted to raise awareness that we are facing this issue and that at the moment, there is no obvious path toward FSD in Europe,” he said.
It should be noted that when Europe has no regulation for a specific driver-assist or automated feature, that specific capability is prohibited by default. Features such as Navigate on Autopilot’s automatic lane changes, for one, has no regulation in Europe, which immediately makes it unusable on the region’s roads. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Enhanced Summon
Looking further into the regulations, Peeters explained that Remote Control Parking features such as Tesla’s Summon cannot exceed more than 6 meters (19.6 feet). This strict regulation stands in the way of Tesla’s upcoming Smart Summon update, which will allow drivers to summon their vehicle around a 50-meter (150-foot) radius. Elon Musk has noted that Smart Summon is already being released to users in the company’s Early Access Program, and that the feature will roll out in the upcoming V10 update. With Europe’s regulations in the picture, the feature will be automatically prohibited once it is released.
Navigate on Autopilot
The limitations of Europe’s regulations affect Navigate on Autopilot’s off-ramp capabilities. Under the updated rules, turns using driver-assist systems such as Autopilot are only regulated up to 63 km/h or 39.33 mph. According to the Model S owner, this results in Autopilot (at least in some instances) assertively reducing its speed while navigating a turn, which could make the driver-assist system behave as if it was not confident in the maneuver. Steven’s previous Autopilot tests suggest that Tesla is playing it safe to meet these regulations by allowing Autopilot to stay below the maximum speed limit, but this has the effect of the driver-assist system losing its refined nature while navigating a curve as a result.
Lane Changes
Perhaps the most notable feature affected by Europe’s updated regulations is Autopilot and Navigate on Autopilot’s lane-changing capabilities. Regulations currently define five steps for assisted lane changes: 1) the activation of blinkers; 2) the lateral movement of the vehicle; 3) the actual lane change maneuver; 4) the resumption of lane-keeping functions, and finally; 5) the deactivation of blinkers. Tesla follows this to a tee.
According to Europe’s new regulations, lane change maneuvers must not be initiated before a period of 3 seconds and not later than 5 seconds after deliberate driver action. This means that once initiated, the lane change maneuver must be finished in less than 5 seconds. This regulation becomes an issue in real-world scenarios. For example, if drivers start indicating a lane change and there’s a car in an adjacent lane that won’t give way, the maneuver must be aborted within 5 seconds. If a Tesla hits the 5-second mark while this is happening, the vehicle must abandon the lane change attempt and return to its original lane. These restrictions, according to Peeters, have resulted in his Model S swerving to return to the center of its original lane as soon as it hits the 5-second mark.
A Tesla owner’s call for change
These are but a few of the regulations that are currently crippling the capabilities of Tesla’s Autopilot system in Europe. Other discussions and a more in-depth analysis of the UN/ECE r79 regulations are covered by Peeters in a deep dive video, which could be viewed below. As a Tesla owner and as a believer in an eventual full self-driving future, the Model S owner hopes that something could be done to allow Tesla’s driver-assist technologies to operate in Europe without limitations. A petition has already been started to address these issues, and so far, around 7,900 people have signed up to express their support (the petition could be accessed here). Ultimately, Steven notes that as a Tesla owner, he simply wishes that his vehicle could function the way it is intended to.
“It is quite frustrating seeing all those videos from the US of Teslas doing wonderful things, while at the same time, we are stuck with a bad version of it, purely because of these regulations. Enhanced summon is out of the question for us, taking 90-degree turns is a dream, and NoA without confirmation for lane changes requires several regulations to be altered if it will ever happen. I’m trying to find a way to actually get them changed for the better,” Peeters said.
Watch the Model S owner’s deep dive into Europe’s UN/ECE r79 regulations in the video below.
H/T Armand Vervaeck.
Elon Musk
Tesla confirmed HW3 can’t do Unsupervised FSD but there’s more to the story
Tesla confirmed HW3 vehicles cannot run unsupervised FSD, replacing its free upgrade promise with a discounted trade-in.
Tesla has officially confirmed that early vehicles with its Autopilot Hardware 3 (HW3) will not be capable of unsupervised Full Self-Driving, while extending a path forward for legacy owners through a discounted trade-in program. The announcement came by way of Elon Musk in today’s Tesla Q1 2026 earnings call.
🚨 Our LIVE updates on the Tesla Earnings Call will take place here in a thread 🧵
Follow along below: pic.twitter.com/hzJeBitzJU
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2026
The history here matters. HW3 launched in April 2019, and Tesla sold Full Self-Driving packages to owners on the understanding that the hardware was sufficient for full autonomy. Some owners paid between $8,000 and $15,000 for FSD during that period. For years, as FSD’s AI models grew more demanding, HW3 vehicles fell progressively further behind, eventually landing on FSD v12.6 in January 2025 while AI4 vehicles moved to v13 and then v14. When Musk acknowledged in January 2025 that HW3 simply could not reach unsupervised operation, and alluded to a difficult hardware retrofit.
The near-term offering is more concrete. Tesla’s head of Autopilot Ashok Elluswamy confirmed on today’s call that a V14-lite will be coming to HW3 vehicles in late June, bringing all the V14 features currently running on AI4 hardware. That is a meaningful software update for owners who have been frozen at v12.6 for over a year, and it represents genuine effort to keep older hardware relevant. Unsupervised FSD for vehicles is now targeted for Q4 2026 at the earliest, with Musk describing it as a gradual, geography-limited rollout.
For HW3 owners, the over-the-air V14-lite update is welcomed, and the discounted trade-in path at least acknowledges an old obligation. What happens next with the trade-in pricing will define how this chapter ultimately gets written. If Tesla prices the hardware path fairly, acknowledges what early adopters are owed, and delivers V14-lite on the June timeline it committed to today, it has a real opportunity to convert one of the longest-running sore subjects among early adopters into a loyalty story.
Tesla announced its Spring 2026 software update, and it’s the most feature-dense seasonal release the company has put out. The update covers twelve named changes spanning FSD, voice AI, safety lighting, dashcam storage, and pet display customization, among other things.
The centerpiece for owners with AI4 hardware is a redesigned Self-Driving app. The new interface lets owners subscribe to Full Self-Driving with a single tap and view ongoing FSD usage stats directly in the vehicle.
Grok gets its biggest in-car upgrade yet. The update adds a “Hey Grok” hands-free wake word along with location-based reminders, so a driver can now say “remind me to pick up groceries when I get home” without touching the screen. Grok first arrived in vehicles in July 2025, but each update has pushed it closer to genuine daily utility. Musk framed the broader vision clearly at Davos in January, saying Tesla is “really moving into a future that is based on autonomy.”
On safety, the update introduces enhanced blind spot warning lights that integrate directly with the cabin’s ambient lighting, building on the blind spot door warning that arrived in update 2026.8.
Dog Mode has been renamed Pet Mode and now lets owners choose a dog, cat, or hedgehog icon and add their pet’s name to the display.
Dashcam retention now extends up to 24 hours, up from the previous one-hour rolling loop, with a permanent save option for any clip. Weather maps now show rain and snow with better color differentiation and include the past hour of precipitation data along the route.
Tesla has now established a clear rhythm of two major OTA pushes per year. As with last year’s Spring update, that cycle started taking shape in 2025 with adaptive headlights and trunk customization. The 2025 Holiday Update then added Grok to the vehicle for the first time. This Spring follows that structure: the Holiday update introduces new architecture, and the Spring update broadens it across the fleet.
Two notable features still did not make it. IFTTT automations, which launched in China earlier this year, were held back from this North American release for unknown reasons, and Apple CarPlay remains absent, reportedly still delayed by iOS 26 and Apple Maps compatibility issues.
Below is the full list of feature updates released by Tesla.
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 13, 2026
It appears that Tesla may be preparing to roll out some subscription-based services soon. Based on the observations of a Wales-based Model 3 owner who performed some reverse-engineering on the Tesla mobile app, it seems that the electric car maker has added a new “Subscribe” option beside the “Buy” option within the “Upgrades” tab, at least behind the scenes.
A screenshot of the new option was posted in the r/TeslaMotors subreddit, and while the Tesla owner in question, u/Callump01, admitted that the screenshot looks like something that could be easily fabricated, he did submit proof of his reverse-engineering to the community’s moderators. The moderators of the r/TeslaMotors subreddit confirmed the legitimacy of the Model 3 owner’s work, further suggesting that subscription options may indeed be coming to Tesla owners soon.
Did some reverse engineering on the app and Tesla looks to be preparing for subscriptions? from r/teslamotors
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite has been heavily speculated to be offered as a subscription option, similar to the company’s Premium Connectivity feature. And back in April, noted Tesla hacker @greentheonly stated that the company’s vehicles already had the source codes for a pay-as-you-go subscription model. The Tesla hacker suggested then that Tesla would likely release such a feature by the end of the year — something that Elon Musk also suggested in the first-quarter earnings call. “I think we will offer Full Self-Driving as a subscription service, but it will be probably towards the end of this year,” Musk stated.
While the signs for an upcoming FSD subscription option seem to be getting more and more prominent as the year approaches its final quarter, the details for such a feature are still quite slim. Pricing for FSD subscriptions, for example, have not been teased by Elon Musk yet, though he has stated on Twitter that purchasing the suite upfront would be more worth it in the long term. References to the feature in the vehicles’ source code, and now in the Tesla mobile app, also listed no references to pricing.
The idea of FSD subscriptions could prove quite popular among electric car owners, especially since it would allow budget-conscious customers to make the most out of the company’s driver-assist and self-driving systems without committing to the features’ full price. The current price of the Full Self-Driving suite is no joke, after all, being listed at $8,000 on top of a vehicle’s cost. By offering subscriptions to features like Navigate on Autopilot with automatic lane changes, owners could gain access to advanced functions only as they are needed.
Elon Musk, for his part, has explained that ultimately, he still believes that purchasing the Full Self-Driving suite outright provides the most value to customers, as it is an investment that would pay off in the future. “I should say, it will still make sense to buy FSD as an option as in our view, buying FSD is an investment in the future. And we are confident that it is an investment that will pay off to the consumer – to the benefit of the consumer.” Musk said.
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