The regulatory dominoes are starting to fall much faster in Europe for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software. While local owners have spent years watching North American drivers navigate city streets with FSD, a big bureaucratic breakthrough might have just set the stage for a launch in Southern Europe.
Thanks to X user @MirkoMontagna0, who reached out directly to Servedio Gaetano, the General Director at the Italian Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, on LinkedIn, we now know that Tesla has officially applied for FSD approval in Italy (via @TeslaNewswire). Surprisingly, Gaetano responded, confirming that Tesla submitted FSD homologation paperwork to his office just a few days ago. The documentation is currently sitting on government desks and is actively going through the analysis phase.
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The European Approval Wave Speeds Up
This application is a big deal because of how vehicle approvals work across the European Union. Rather than starting from scratch, Tesla is requesting that Italy recognize the existing FSD type approval granted by Dutch regulators back in April. The Netherlands was the first country in the bloc to officially approve FSD, creating a template that makes it much easier for other member countries to jump on board.
In fact, we’ve seen this fast-track method work pretty well over the last few months. Tesla’s European FSD rollout has been speeding up, with Belgium and Denmark recently becoming the latest countries to approve FSD for public use on their roads. Those approvals followed similar regulatory green lights that deployed the software in Estonia and Lithuania.
If you want a complete picture of where FSD is already available and where it’s expected to land next, make sure to check out our complete breakdown of Tesla’s FSD expansion history and Tesla’s list of countries currently awaiting regulatory approval.
A Growing Divide on European Roads
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While Italy is moving quickly to evaluate Tesla’s application for FSD approval, the road to an EU-wide rollout isn’t entirely smooth. Sweden, in particular, has been actively pushing back against a broader block approval for the system. The Swedish Transport Administration recently urged the EU to reject Tesla FSD, pointing directly to the software’s manual “Speed Offset” feature as a potential risk for over-speeding.
Even with Sweden raising red flags, FSD’s momentum in Europe is undeniable. Now that Italy has officially entered the analysis phase, local drivers are one step closer to letting their cars handle the daily commute.