Tesla’s supervised Full Self-Driving system is under fresh scrutiny after a Belgian road-safety group said tests conducted in July found it frequently exceeded local speed limits, displayed incorrect speed-limit information to drivers and, in some cases, attempted to overtake cyclists where that maneuver is prohibited. The findings, reported by Reuters on September 24, add a new European safety challenge to Tesla’s ongoing rollout of FSD Supervised in markets where regulators are still weighing how the system should be monitored and approved. investing.com
What the Belgian group reported
According to Reuters, the pedestrian and cyclist safety group Johanna.be tested Tesla’s FSD over three days in July across roughly 400 kilometers of roads in Belgium. The group said the system often ran above posted limits in 20 km/h and 30 km/h zones and sometimes showed drivers a higher limit than the one actually in force. Reuters’ account also says the group recorded cases in which the vehicle attempted to overtake cyclists on roads where that was not allowed. investing.com
A second Reuters-syndicated summary said the tests found FSD exceeded the limit in most of the 30 km/h road segments examined around Brussels and averaged 44 km/h in those stretches. That is a serious allegation because low-speed urban compliance is one of the clearest tests of whether an assisted-driving system can safely adapt to dense European traffic rules, signage and vulnerable-road-user interactions. [2]
Why this matters for Tesla in Europe
The report arrives as Tesla continues to push FSD Supervised into additional European countries and as regulators remain sensitive to how the system handles local road rules. Reuters noted that Tesla said on X that rollout in the Czech Republic would begin soon after provisional approval there earlier this week, underscoring how quickly the company is trying to expand the product’s geographic footprint. Belgium, however, shows that approval in one European market does not settle the larger question of how the software performs across very different road environments. ca.marketscreener.com
For Tesla, the practical issue is not only whether the car can stay within a lane or respond to traffic, but whether it can reliably interpret speed restrictions, signage and overtaking rules that vary by country and even by municipality. That challenge is especially important in Europe, where urban streets often use lower limits and more frequent traffic-calming measures than many U.S. roads. The Belgian tests, if representative, suggest that compliance remains a core weakness rather than a marginal edge case. investing.com
What is still unclear
The Reuters report is based on tests by a safety advocacy group, not a regulator, and it does not establish how Tesla’s current software compares with earlier versions in Belgium or other European markets. It also does not say whether the behavior was repeatable across different roads, weather conditions or software builds. Those details matter because assisted-driving performance can vary significantly by map data, camera visibility, local markings and release version. investing.com
Tesla and the Dutch regulator RDW did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment, so the company’s side of the testing methodology and the specific circumstances behind the reported violations remains unavailable in the published coverage. Until Tesla or a regulator releases a fuller technical review, the Belgian findings should be treated as a warning signal rather than a final verdict. straitstimes.com
What to watch next
The next meaningful step would be a response from Tesla addressing the Belgian group’s methodology, any software changes since the July tests, and whether speed-limit recognition is improving in European builds. Regulators in countries considering or expanding FSD permissions may also look for evidence that the system can consistently handle low-speed urban environments before broadening access. investing.com
If European authorities or Tesla publish follow-up data, the key question will be whether these issues are isolated to a specific testing route or reflect a broader pattern in the current supervised FSD stack. For now, the Belgian report adds another concrete, independently documented data point to the debate over whether Tesla’s driver-assistance software is ready for wider European use. investing.com