- The European Transport Safety Council said Tesla offered to change the name of its tech
- Germany’s transport ministry claimed Full Self-Driving was misleading
- BMW aims to pile on the pressure with its own automated driving tech next year
Following intervention from Germany’s transport ministry, Tesla has agreed to formally change the name of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) partially automated driving technology to ‘Tesla Assisted Driving’ in Europe and the UK.
The move came after Germany’s Transport Minister, Steffen Bilger, aimed to legalize Tesla’s advanced driver assistance systems as quickly as possible, but went on to explain that the name was “somewhat misleading”.
“It is a driver assistance system that can support certain driving tasks such as accelerating, braking and steering. However, the driver must remain attentive at all times,” a statement read.
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As a result, Tesla agreed to change the name of the technology to appease European lawmakers, with Tesla Assisted Driving suggested and subsequently agreed on by all involved.
The new name has now been added to Tesla websites in Europe, including the UK site.
It comes as many governments move to tighten the rules around the marketing of assisted driving systems, according to Fleet News.
In the UK, for example, the terms automated, automated driving, autonomous, autonomous driving, drive autonomously, drive itself, driverless, and self-driving will only be reserved for authorized or listed vehicles, such as fully self-driving taxis.
The UK’s Department for Transport released a statement that said that under the 2024 Automated Vehicles act, which is expected to come into force on January 7, 2027, a vehicle only meets the self-driving test if it “does not need to be monitored or controlled by an individual”.
BMW readies its Symbiotic Drive technology
The German automotive giant announced this week that it will expand its urban driver assistance functions in Germany early next year.
A suite of navigation-guided driver assistance functions, under the umbrella title Symbiotic Drive, will provide support from the motorway, through the countryside and into the city, BMW claims.
The SAE Level 2 technology will able to handle turning and right-of-way situations, urban lane changes and navigating roundabouts using the vehicles in-built satellite navigation system.
Unlike other advanced driver assistance systems, BMW says its technology is designed to work seamlessly with the driver, so they can intervene, accelerate, brake and steer without completely shutting off the system.
Lane changes are also handled in an innovative way, with interior, gaze-monitoring cameras detecting a driver’s intention to swap lanes and the steering wheel detecting inputs before the system autonomously executes the maneuver.
BMW says that the system only provides assistance in the form of a “warning and steering intervention” if the driver is actually unintentionally drifting out of their own lane or if the system detects an imminent collision.
However, the company reiterates that Symbiotic Drive is a Level 2 system, so requires a driver to pay attention and be ready to take over whenever the technology requires.
It will be available on iX3, iX4, all models in the 3 Series, 7 Series and X5 range in Germany to begin with, but further countries will soon follow.
The German marque says the hardware is already in place in the majority of circumstances and that BMW Symbiotic Drive will be delivered as an over-the-air software update.
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Leon Poultney
