Tesla Renames Full Self-Driving to Tesla Assisted Driving in Europe

Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa said Friday that the automaker's partnership with British startup Wayve could reduce development times and costs for advanced driver-assistance systems. Speaking alongside Wayve CEO Alex Kendall at the Wave technology event in Turin, Filosa said scale would be crucial to making hands-free driving affordable and speeding up adoption, pointing to level 2++ driving assistance technology that allows hands-off driving while still requiring driver supervision. He said cutting development timelines, currently around 24 months for Stellantis, was a key benefit of working with technology partners. Stellantis announced the partnership with Wayve in May to integrate the startup's AI-powered driving software into its STLA AutoDrive platform, with the first product launch targeted for 2028 in North America. Kendall said Stellantis' portfolio of brands, including Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and Maserati, offered an opportunity to tailor autonomous driving characteristics across different vehicles while using the same underlying AI system, and at the Turin event the two companies demonstrated hands-free driving in Fiat 500e and Maserati Grecale development vehicles.

Slovakia is expected to approve Tesla's Full Self-Driving system, potentially making it the ninth European Union country to authorize the driver-assistance technology, according to Reuters. Transport Minister Jozef Raz said Slovakia would formally communicate its decision to the Netherlands, where the vehicle regulator RDW cleared Tesla's system earlier this year and acts as the primary regulatory authority for FSD in Europe. Raz said the decision was supported by data indicating lower accident rates, while emphasizing that drivers would remain responsible for their vehicles, and once the letter is delivered FSD would become available for use in Slovakia. The expected approval follows authorizations in countries including Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, the Netherlands, Denmark and Estonia, and an EU-wide vote could take place as soon as December, potentially opening the door to broader deployment across the region. Wider FSD adoption could support software monetization through paid subscriptions and expand Tesla's addressable customer base, though competition is intensifying from General Motors' Super Cruise and Rivian's Autonomy+.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has decided to establish a dedicated unit next spring to investigate and deter accidents involving autonomous vehicles, according to an interview with the department on the 9th. The unit, tentatively named the Autonomous Driving Planning Office, will be placed within the Traffic Affairs Division of the Traffic Bureau and will handle responses to permit applications for Level 4 automation, in which the system performs all operations under specific conditions, as well as investigate accidents. Because determining the cause of autonomous driving accidents requires advanced knowledge and skills, the unit will accumulate investigative methods and provide support to other prefectural police forces. It also plans to conduct awareness campaigns to prevent accidents and inform manufacturers, and is considering upgrading it to a division in the spring of 2028. The establishment of such a dedicated unit is the first among police forces nationwide.

Tesla delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter, comfortably above company-compiled consensus of 461,974 and down only 2% from a year earlier, strengthening the case that the company could return to annual delivery growth after two years of declines. The automotive recovery still matters because cars remain Tesla's largest revenue source, with European registrations up 43% during the first eight months of 2026, helping offset weaker U.S. demand following the loss of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Tesla's Q2 numbers showed why volume alone is insufficient: revenue reached $28.24 billion, but gross margin fell to 16.8% from 17.2%, while free cash flow turned negative by $1.1 billion and capital expenditures jumped 142% to $5.79 billion as Tesla funded AI infrastructure, robotaxis, and next-generation manufacturing. Tesla recently secured $30 billion of new credit facilities and expects 2026 capital spending above $25 billion, although the facilities were undrawn and the company did not plan to use them in 2026. Goldman Sachs kept a Neutral rating and $360 target on October 6, arguing that Tesla's physical-AI businesses, including robotaxis, FSD, and humanoids, will matter more for the stock than Q3 EPS, while consensus P/E falls from 217.93 times estimated 2026 earnings to 176.66 times in 2027 and 117.20 times in 2028 before dropping to 58.28 times in 2029.