The Dutch vehicle authority RDW approved a Tesla update that caps its driver-assistance system in Europe at 10% over the speed limit, down from up to 50% until now. According to Electrek, on a 100 km/h road the system could previously go 150 km/h. The new margin resets to 0% every time the car starts, and other speed functions are off by default. With the update the system is called Tesla Assisted Driving, a name that appears on the display and in the manual of HW4 cars.
According to the RDW, these are "several minor changes" that it checked and folded into the existing approval, and the new name does not change what the system is: it is still driver assistance, and the driver is responsible. The authority notified the nine countries that recognize its approval, so the system is now approved in 10 countries.
The changes match the conditions Germany set in October to back EU-wide approval. The decision lies with the EU's Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles, and the vote has been pushed to December at the earliest. It needs a qualified majority: 15 of 27 member states representing at least 65% of the EU population. Sweden asked that no setting above the limit be allowed, and France cited urban speeding as one reason for its refusal.