Tesla said on Monday that Latvia has approved its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system, making it the tenth European Union country to allow the software, all on the basis of a single Dutch approval.
“Now approved in Latvia,” Tesla’s Europe, Middle East and Africa account wrote on X. “Rollout begins soon.”
Latvia’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) said it had recognized the provisional EU type approval issued by the Dutch vehicle authority RDW for the system, which Tesla now calls Tesla Assisted Driving in Europe.
CSDD said it reviewed the RDW documentation, worked with RDW and other member states’ approval authorities, and assessed information from Tesla on changes to the system.
Those changes include a lower threshold for exceeding the speed limit, an automatic reset after each trip of any speed offset the driver sets manually, and stronger driver monitoring, CSDD said.
Months of resistance
The decision ends a six-month process. Tesla filed its request for recognition in Latvia on April 13, three days after the Dutch approval, and CSDD and the Transport Ministry later asked for more material, including on winter operation.
CSDD had tested the system in Latvia and found three main problems: failing to obey traffic lights, choosing the wrong lane and not adapting to changes in the speed limit, Latvian EV site Uzlādēts reported in May.
“Before such systems are introduced in real road traffic, they must be thoroughly tested and safe in all situations,” CSDD said at the time.
Latvia’s Ministry of Economics proposed recognizing the Dutch approval in September. “Latvia’s decision should not be based on hypothetical assumptions about the safety of the technology,” the ministry said.
Capabilities
CSDD classified the software as a Level 2 driver assistance system. It can hold speed, brake, steer, change lanes and cross intersections along a navigation route.
Drivers need not keep their hands on the wheel at all times, but must watch the road and be ready to take over immediately, CSDD said. The system checks where the driver is looking, issues warnings and becomes temporarily unavailable if they are repeatedly ignored.
Drivers remain fully responsible for following traffic rules and for any violation or accident, and may not use a phone while driving.
CSDD also warned that snow, mud and road salt can interfere with the system in Latvia. On gravel roads it may work only partly and may hand control back to the driver without warning.
The software is available only on Tesla models covered by the RDW approval. In Europe, Tesla sells it as a subscription at €99 ($111) a month.
Ten countries, one approval
The Netherlands remains the only EU country to have approved the system through its own process. RDW issued its type approval on April 10 under Article 39 of EU Regulation 2018/858, which allows exemptions for new technology not yet covered by harmonized rules.
That approval is valid only in the Netherlands, and the other nine countries have each recognized it for their own roads.
Lithuania followed on May 20 and Estonia on May 29. Denmark recognized it on June 9 and Belgium on June 10. Tesla announced approval in Slovenia on September 7, Czechia on September 21 and Croatia on September 29. Slovakiabecame the ninth on October 16.
Latvia is the last of the three Baltic states to sign on. Tesla opened its first Latvian store, in Riga, in August, after opening online orders there on July 17.
EU-wide vote
The ten countries together account for about 14% of the EU’s population, according to a tally by X user Roland Pircher.
“It’s another small country, but it still brings us one vote closer to the 15 needed,” Pircher wrote. “The main remaining problem is reaching 65% of the EU population in all the countries that vote ‘yes’.”
An EU-wide approval requires a qualified majority in the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles, with at least 15 of the 27 member states representing at least 65% of the bloc’s population.
Germany, France, Italy and Spain, the four most populous members, have not recognized the Dutch approval. Together they account for about 58% of the EU’s population.
The committee did not vote on October 6, its third session on the file without one, and Germany’s Transport Ministry has said a vote is planned for December.
Speed limits
The speed-related changes CSDD cited address the main objection raised by regulators.
Sweden told the committee in April to vote against the system unless Tesla removes its speed-offset function, and Norway, which is outside the EU, raised the same concern.
Germany’s Transport Ministry said on October 6 that it had reached an understanding with Tesla under which the system may exceed the speed limit “by a maximum of 10%” and the driver “remains 100 percent responsible.”
Transport Minister Steffen Bilger has said he will push for EU-wide approval and has floated a national solution if that fails.
So far, the approvals have had little measurable effect on sales. Tesla’s FSD reached six EU markets without a visible effect on registrations, according to a September analysis.
