Europe's peak car-safety body has issues with Tesla's Self-Driving technology, which could give owners a false sense of security.
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A representative for Euro NCAP, the European equivalent of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), has called out Tesla’s Full-Self Driving (FSD) technology as dangerous and irresponsible.
Speaking to Australian and New Zealand media, Euro NCAP Technical Director Richard Schram said the much-vaunted Tesla technology would not be seen favourably under current testing criteria.
“I tried it years ago already in the US; it’s impressive, but there is a big danger – being over reliant on it,” Schram said.
“I think it’s really hard to keep drivers in the loop and still giving them that feeling that the car does everything autonomously.
“What I would love to see with Tesla is, ‘here’s full self-driving, I’ll take full responsibility forever for whatever happens’.
“And while that’s not the case, it is essentially an assistance system where if Tesla – or any other manufacturer – keeps the driver responsible for driving, then we will hold the car manufacturer responsible for keeping the driver in that role.”
For context, FSD (Supervised) was launched last year in Australia – one of only a handful of countries outside the United States with the semi-autonomous technology.
It allows a compatible Tesla Model 3 or Model Y to navigate complex driving scenarios such as inner-city roads, stopping at traffic lights, and navigating into a car park thanks to its camera-based hardware and quick processing capabilities.
However, the self-driving system falls within a legal grey area in Australia; Tesla has a disclaimer on screen that stipulates driver’s hands should be on the steering wheel – though that is never enforced unless the driver monitoring system determines driver distraction.
The technology is yet to come to Europe due to regulatory concerns and a higher safety standard for autonomous technologies due – in some part – to the close proximity of countries that may differ in road signage and rules.
Schram said the biggest problem with Tesla FSD (Supervised) is the name, which implies the car will take accountability, rather than the onus still on the driver.
“If you want to call it automation, great, then you’re [the car manufacturer is] responsible – then it becomes a different story, it becomes a different way of looking at the system,” Schram said.
“To be fair, and not picking on Tesla, but in general … nothing is self-driving, it’s assistance.
“A lot of assistance also needs a lot of driver engagement and, if that’s balanced, no problem.
“We also now have ADAS grading, so assisted driving grading’ we have [done testing] with Tesla, even on the current Autopilot [Tesla’s name for its semi-autonomous highway driving technology commonly offered amongst other car brands].
“I think it already starts with the naming being wrong, and then there is other elements like not coupling driver monitoring with the assistance, so if you know the driver is doing something else, you should get them back because you are responsible.
“For FSD, if it really comes to the market and is allowed in Europe – which is not the case yet – we will really focus, not so much on the assistance performance because alright fine, I’ll believe you, sort of, but what we’re really going to focus heavily on the driver engagement parts.”
This interplay between the driver and a vehicle’s active safety systems is a new focus for Euro NCAP and, by extension, ANCAP.
Part of the 2026 ruleset is the testing the robustness of driver monitoring systems, but only so much as the accuracy and tracking of the system.
For the 2029 protocol change, the safety organisations are looking to test how ‘smart’ the monitoring is; for active safety systems to only intervene if the monitoring system can determine if a driver has not seen a crucial obstacle, for example.
For Euro NCAP, if the driver monitoring system is pinged because a driver is doing a head check or changing a radio station, but still aware of their surroundings, the technology is poorly implemented.
However, the 2029 rules are still being determined and will involve consultation from car manufacturers before being announced closer to their introduction date.
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Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
