Estonia has cleared Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system for use on its roads, becoming the third European country to recognise the technology while keeping legal responsibility firmly with the driver.
The Estonian Transport Administration has recognised the type approval issued by the Dutch vehicle authority RDW for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system, known as the FSD.
The decision makes Estonia the third country in Europe, after the Netherlands and Lithuania, to allow cars equipped with Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system onto its roads.
Tesla FSD is classified as an SAE Level 2 driver assistance system. The vehicle can manage most traffic situations independently, but it is not legally considered fully autonomous: a driver must remain behind the wheel, pay attention and be ready to take control immediately.
According to the Transport Administration, recognising the Dutch type approval supports innovative technologies that can improve road safety. Self-driving and remotely operated vehicles have been permitted on Estonian roads since 2017, and allowing Tesla’s highly automated system was described as a logical next step.
Before the system was approved in the Netherlands, Tesla carried out a year and a half of test drives on European roads, collecting driving data across the continent.
The driver remains responsible
Jürgo Vahtra, the head of the vehicle technology department at the Transport Administration, told Aktuaalne kaamera, the evening news programme of the Estonian Public Broadcasting, that the Tesla FSD remains a driver assistance system, not a replacement for the driver.
“This is still a driver assistance system, where the driver is responsible for the vehicle’s entire driving behaviour and safety, and must take over the vehicle if necessary,” Vahtra said.
He added that Tesla also monitors whether the driver is paying attention to the road. If the driver is distracted or looking elsewhere, the system alerts them. For that reason, Vahtra said, the approval does not require changes to current legislation, as responsibility ultimately remains with the driver.
In the coming months, newer Tesla electric vehicles in Estonia are expected to receive a software update enabling the system. After the update, drivers will no longer have to keep their hands on the steering wheel continuously, as the car will be able to carry out much of the driving itself.
Pavel Nikolajev, whose family owns two Teslas, told the news programme he was looking forward to the software update and believed it could have a calming effect on Estonian traffic culture.
“When the car drives itself, it looks all around, and perhaps they will also drive a little more slowly and properly, and then other cars will observe that and take it as an example,” Nikolajev said.
Legal questions ahead
While Estonia did not need to change its laws for the current rollout, lawyers say more complex legal questions are approaching.
Marcus Niin, an attorney-at-law at the law firm Sorainen, told Aktuaalne kaamera that self-driving vehicles raise issues around data protection, insurance and liability.
“With such vehicles, data protection is certainly an issue, because these cars collect a great deal of data while moving, and the question is what happens to that data – whether it is recorded, stored, and for how long,” Niin said.
He added that the insurance system would also need to adapt if cars become increasingly automated.
“Today, for example, our entire insurance system is based, so to speak, on an individual’s fault. But in a situation where the driver is not actually driving, or where, for example, there is no driver in the car at all, who is responsible?” Niin asked.
Niin said the role of the driver is likely to diminish as fully automated software-based driving becomes more common, and that Estonia should already start preparing its legislation for that shift.
There are more than 2,000 Teslas registered in Estonia. It is estimated that around 400 to 500 of them could start using the system once the software update becomes available.
