Tesla’s Full Self-Driving software is creeping into Europe
Quick Answer
Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software has launched in Lithuania, following its approval in the Netherlands, as part of CEO Elon Musk's goal to reach 10 million active subscriptions by 2035.
Quick Take
Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) software has launched in Lithuania, following its approval in the Netherlands, as part of CEO Elon Musk's goal to reach 10 million active subscriptions by 2035. Currently, Tesla has around 1.3 million paying FSD customers globally, with a subscription fee of $99 per month. The rollout in Europe is slow due to regulatory scrutiny, but other countries like Greece and Belgium are expected to follow suit.
Key Points
- FSD software is now available in Lithuania and the Netherlands.
- Elon Musk aims for 10 million active FSD subscriptions by 2035.
- Currently, Tesla has nearly 1.3 million paying FSD customers worldwide.
- FSD subscription costs $99 per month, replacing the one-time fee model.
- Regulatory scrutiny is slowing the rollout of FSD in Europe.
📖 Reader Mode
~3 min readTesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) driver assistance software is now available in Lithuania, the second European country to approve its use, as the company pushes to position itself as an AI and robotics powerhouse and not just an automaker.
Making FSD available in Europe — which kicked off last month when the Dutch regulator RDW approved its use — is critical to Tesla’s and CEO Elon Musk’s ambitions. It’s also financially important for Musk, whose $1 trillion pay package is tied to hitting a number of product goals, including hitting “10 million active FSD subscriptions” by 2035.
Tesla has a long way to go before it hits that 10 million subscription figure. The company said during its first-quarter earnings call in April that it has nearly 1.3 million paying FSD customers globally.
Tesla’s FSD (Supervised) first launched in beta in late 2020. The advanced driver assistance system, which still requires active driver supervision, has had regular updates since then to remove bugs, and improve reliability and performance. Today, the system can handle driving maneuvers, such as steering, lane changes, and parking. Tesla used to allow owners to pay a one-time fee for the software; in January, Musk announced the only way to access the feature would be through a monthly subscription that is currently $99.
The rollout of FSD in Europe hasn’t been fast or furious — regulatory scrutiny has traditionally slowed deployment compared with the United States. Today, FSD is only available in the Netherlands, and now Lithuania. The rollout could accelerate if Dutch regulator RDW, which oversaw the first European approval, is successful in its bid for EU-wide acceptance.
Meanwhile, European countries can recognize Dutch certification and allow for FSD. And a number of them appear to be in the queue.
— Tesla Europe, Middle East & Africa (@teslaeurope) May 20, 2026
The Greek transport ministry said Wednesday that an upcoming bill would grant approval of FSD, Reuters reported. Belgium is also expected to authorize the use of FSD, following the same authorization process used by RDW.
Outside of Europe, FSD is available in Australia, Canada, China, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Korea, and the United States.
FSD (Supervised) isn’t the only product that fits within Musk’s vision of turning Tesla into a leader in AI and robotics, but it is the only one that is actually available to a wide swath of consumers.
FSD Unsupervised, a version of the software that handles all driving without any expectation of a human driver taking control, is not available to Tesla owners. It is used in a small fleet of about 50 Tesla robotaxis that operate in Austin, Dallas, and Houston.
Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robot, meanwhile, is not yet in mass production or available to consumers.
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Kirsten Korosec is a reporter and editor who has covered the future of transportation from EVs and autonomous vehicles to urban air mobility and in-car tech for more than a decade. She is currently the transportation editor at TechCrunch and co-host of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast. She is also co-founder and co-host of the podcast, “The Autonocast.” She previously wrote for Fortune, The Verge, Bloomberg, MIT Technology Review and CBS Interactive.
You can contact or verify outreach from Kirsten by emailing kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at kkorosec.07 on Signal.
— Originally published at techcrunch.com
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