Tesla has begun pushing its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software to customer vehicles in the Netherlands, the company’s vice president of autopilot and FSD engineering Ashok Elluswamy confirmed on Saturday.
The Netherlands became on Friday the first country in Europe where the driver-assistance system is available to paying owners, with other markets expected to follow.
“Tesla FSD is now rolling out to actual customers in the Netherlands!” Elluswamy wrote on X, quote-tweeting Dutch Tesla owner ‘KRoelandschap’, who posted a screenshot showing software update 2026.3.6 downloading to his vehicle.
“Well that went quick!! Within 24hrs i’m getting FSD,” the owner wrote. The post had accumulated 11,200 views within the first hours.
The rollout comes just one day after the Dutch vehicle authority RDW issued its formal type approval on Friday, following more than 18 months of testing on its own track and on public roads.
What the RDW Said
In its official statement published on Friday, the RDW emphasised that FSD Supervised is a driver-assistance system, not an autonomous driving system.
“This driver’s assistance system has been extensively researched and tested on our test track and on public roads for more than a year and a half,” the authority wrote. “Safety is paramount for the RDW. The proper use of this driver’s system makes a positive contribution to road safety.”
“A vehicle with FSD Supervised is not self-driving. It is a driver’s aid system and the driver remains responsible and must always maintain control,” the RDW stated.
The authority explained that when FSD Supervised is engaged, sensors monitor whether the driver’s eyes are on the road and whether the driver’s hands are available to take over the steering wheel.
The hands do not need to rest on the wheel, but the driver must be able to intervene immediately if needed.
“It is therefore not permitted or possible to, for example, read the newspaper behind the wheel,” the RDW wrote. If the driver is consistently insufficiently alert, the system will issue warnings and can ultimately disable itself temporarily.
The RDW also drew a direct distinction between the European and American versions of the software.
“The software versions and functionalities of American and European cars are not directly comparable,” the authority wrote. “This means that the FSD Supervised version in the US is NOT comparable with the FSD Supervised version in the EU.”
Road to EU-Wide Approval
The type approval is currently valid only in the Netherlands. Extending it across the European Union requires several additional steps, the RDW outlined.
The authority must submit an application to the European Commission for EU-wide authorisation.
All 27 member states would then vote on the application, with a majority required for approval within the responsible committee.
Tesla‘s European account said on Thursday that it anticipates “a possible EU-wide approval during the summer.”
The European Commission has not committed to a timeline. The TCMV committee, which would conduct the vote, has confirmed sessions throughout 2026.
Other EU member states can individually recognise the Dutch approval before the bloc-wide vote takes place.
The speed at which individual countries process their own recognition will determine how quickly FSD reaches owners in Germany, France, and other markets.
A Long Road
In November last year, Tesla‘s European social media account claimed the RDW had “committed to granting Netherlands National approval in February 2026.”
The RDW publicly denied this days later, clarifying that no commitment had been made and that the February session was only for Tesla to demonstrate whether FSD met required standards.
At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, CEO Elon Musk said he hoped for European approval “next month.”
On Thursday, as the approval was announced, Tesla’s Europe and Middle East account wrote on X: “De toekomst van mobiliteit is aangebroken. FSD Supervised has been approved in the Netherlands & will begin rolling out in the country shortly! Trained on billions of kilometers of real-world driving data, it can drive you almost anywhere under your supervision — from residential roads to city streets & highways. No other vehicle can do this. We’re excited to bring FSD Supervised to more European countries soon.”
CEO Elon Musk responded hours later, writing on X: “RDW was extremely rigorous in their review.”
FSD (Supervised) is currently available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea. The Netherlands is the first European market to receive the software.
