Germany's transport minister pledges to push Tesla FSD toward EU-wide approval

A qualified majority counts people as well as countries. The eight states that already allow supervised FSD ^[4] are about 52 percentage points short of the 65% population line ^[15] and seven countries short of the 15 required ^{[3] [16]}. A German yes would cut the country gap to six ^[16]. Sedaily names the position of Germany and the other large member states as the decisive factor ^[14]. Germany is the most populous of them ^[2], and so far it is the only large state the reporting puts on Tesla's side ^[1].

On liability, what is on the record is talks and an inference. Berlin has held working-level talks with Tesla on technical issues and on legal liability after an accident ^[5]. Sedaily wrote that Bilger's comments suggest the two sides have reached an understanding on both ^[17]. That is a newspaper's reading of remarks the minister made at a Berlin conference on the 6th ^[1]. In our view, a government that had settled liability and expected to win the vote would have less reason to talk publicly about approving on its own ^[6]. The other reading, that the fallback is meant to pressure undecided capitals, fits the same facts. Musk wrote on X, in German, "Danke Schön!" ^[7]

If enough large states follow Berlin, FSD clears the bloc at the December vote ^[8]. If the worry that the name promises full autonomy delays the vote again ^[8], Germany has its national route ^[6]. Or the vote fails and Berlin, having said it prefers consensus, holds off ^[6]. We'd put more weight on the second outcome than the coverage does. The vote has already moved once, and a liability understanding with Berlin does nothing about governments' objection to the label. If the December vote passes on schedule, that view is wrong.

The national approvals so far cover supervised FSD ^[4]. The Cybercab going on show in Paris ^[9] has two seats and no steering wheel or pedals ^[10]. The reporting does not put a driverless service on the December agenda. On this evidence, a European robotaxi market is a later regulatory question than the one Bilger is campaigning on.

Tesla's European sales have recovered recently with no bloc-wide approval in place ^[8], and the company delivered 486,532 vehicles in the third quarter, beating expectations ^[12]. By Sedaily's account, its software revenue is building in the US, where FSD subscriptions are taking hold as the robotaxi business expands ^[13]. In Europe, for now, Tesla is spending on persuasion: six FSD test cars at the Paris Motor Show ^[9] and the months before December lobbying national authorities ^[18].