A Belgian road-safety group says Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) system routinely broke speed limits in Brussels and behaved unsafely around cyclists — findings that land just ahead of a possible EU-wide vote on the technology.

Johanna.be, which advocates for pedestrians and cyclists, tested an FSD-equipped Tesla over three days in July, covering about 400 km, according to Reuters. The group found that the system frequently exceeded limits in 20 km/h and 30 km/h zones. In the majority of the 30 km/h road segments it tested around the capital, FSD drove over the limit, averaging 44 km/h.

The screen behaviour may be the more striking finding. Even when the car appeared to recognise roadside 30 km/h signs, it often displayed a 50 km/h limit to the driver. "It is akin to a passenger constantly reassuring the driver that the speed limit is 50 km/h in nearly every 30-zone through which they pass," the report said. Video collected by the group also shows the car attempting to overtake cyclists on streets where overtaking is prohibited.

The report is not uniformly negative. Johanna.be said the system "behaved cautiously and courteously around pedestrians and cyclists, often yielding proactively" — but argued those strengths "do not offset the documented failures to comply with speed limits and cycle-street regulations". It has sent the findings to the Flemish transport ministry and the Dutch regulator RDW, urging both to reassess their approvals.

FSD, which performs most driving tasks but requires a fully attentive driver, was approved by the Dutch regulator RDW in April; Belgium and several other countries followed. An EU-wide vote could take place on 6 October. Sweden and others have already objected to how FSD handles speed limits, while approving countries insist the driver remains responsible for obeying traffic law.

Tesla says the opposite of the Belgian findings: a study it released earlier this month concluded that FSD-enabled cars do not speed excessively and drive at speeds matching surrounding traffic. Tesla and RDW did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Xavier Lesenne of the Flemish transport ministry called FSD "a learning system that continuously processes new and additional information" and stressed that the driver "remains 100% responsible" and must intervene if the system makes an error or fails to apply a traffic rule correctly.

The dispute is not confined to Europe — US regulators have also been examining FSD's handling of speed limits and traffic signals — but the EU's decision in the coming weeks will determine whether the system can be deployed at scale across the bloc.

Sources