Is Tesla embellishing statistics for its FSD system?

Tesla is striving to obtain European approval for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver assistance system. According to agency research, the manufacturer has submitted its own safety statistics to authorities in Sweden and the Netherlands, which independent traffic researchers believe amount to misleading marketing. (UPDATE BELOW)

Tesla fsd supervised launch litauen — Image: Tesla

A recent Reuters investigation states that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other executives have increasingly cited statistics over the past year to claim that the FSD (Full Self-Driving) driver-assistance feature is up to ten times safer than human drivers. However, Reuters’ review identified several flawed data comparisons underpinning Tesla’s claims.

According to Reuters, Tesla presented its own safety data to several European regulatory authorities, including those in Sweden and the Netherlands. It remains unclear whether these statistics influenced the approval granted in the Netherlands. Responding to Reuters’ enquiries, RDW – the Dutch authority responsible – stated that it does not base its decisions on “marketing statements or external statistics”. Instead, it conducts its own “tests, analyses, and evaluations” of the system on public roads and test tracks. Tesla did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Tesla has since received approval to deploy its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) driver-assistance system in five EU countries. Following initial approval in the Netherlands in April, further approvals were granted in Lithuania and Estonia in May, followed by Denmark and Belgium in June. However, as the system still requires approval from the European Commission, authorisations in all these countries remain provisional – and are consistently aligned with the Dutch precedent.

Update 17 June 2026

The Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management denied on Tuesday that the Dutch vehicle authority RDW relied on statistics provided by Tesla when approving the company’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software for use on Dutch roads. Minister Vincent Karremans faced questions on the matter in parliament. Karremans said that while the statistics submitted by Tesla could be questioned, they did not form the basis of the RDW’s approval. “We have asked the RDW about that, and the answer is that this was not the case,” he said, adding that the RDW’s approval was based on ‘independently ⁠verified testing’ conducted by the authority itself.