By Marie Mannes
STOCKHOLM, Sept 29 (Reuters) – A prominent safety group on Tuesday urged European Union member states to reject approval of US automaker Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) system, citing concerns that it may allow users to exceed speed limits.
The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) said Tesla’s driver-assistance system includes a speed offset function, which can raise the maximum speed by as much as 50% above the limit detected by the vehicle.
The safety group said Tesla has not sought an exemption from United Nations Economic Commission rules to allow the FSD system to exceed posted limits through an offset function.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said that delaying the approval of FSD “will cost lives”.
The issue has emerged as one of the most contentious aspects of Tesla’s push for a European rollout of FSD, which controls the vehicle’s speed and steering while requiring the driver to remain attentive.
Several countries including Sweden, France and the Czech Republic have raised concerns regarding the system’s ability to exceed speed limits.
Dutch regulator RDW approved the system in April, with Belgium and a handful of other countries following suit. A vote on EU-wide approval, previously expected in October, is now unlikely before December.
The Dutch approval gives exemptions to a series of rules set by the U.N. commission, but the safety group said the speed offset was not included.
RDW did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
ETSC said European regulators should reject approval of the speed offset function and a separate feature that matches driving speeds to surrounding traffic.
(Reporting by Marie Mannes, editing by Terje Solsvik)
