Tesla is betting its future on autonomous driving, and its Full Self-Driving software is key to achieving vehicle autonomy. With the FSD V12, Tesla made tangible progress toward that goal, and rumors indicate that it will expand FSD tests outside North America. Although not yet available in Europe, the Tesla FSD V12 already works on the streets of Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova, as revealed in a recent video.
Although people in North America have become familiar with Tesla Full Self-Driving, others in other regions are still in awe over its autonomous driving capabilities. Tesla still warns that software cannot drive autonomously and that humans must supervise it to avoid dangerous mistakes. However, the EV maker is confident enough to remove the Beta label and replace it with "Supervised," which appears to send the right message to customers and regulators alike.
With FSD almost ready for autonomous driving in the US and Canada, people wonder when Tesla will enter new markets. Earlier rumors indicated that China would be the next country where limited FSD tests would begin. There is still no official communication on this subject, but Elon Musk's recent visit to China was followed by a new partnership with Baidu for advanced mapping and a change in regulations to allow Tesla to start FSD tests.
A recent video from Chisinau, the capital city of Moldova, shows a Tesla Model Y driving on FSD V12. The ride went smoothly despite the missing lane markings and imperfect road infrastructure. The driver said he also drove on FSD in neighboring Romania, where the road markings are better and the map data is more detailed. Predictably, the Tesla FSD is performing better there, with fewer disengagements. However, it also saved the day in the video by braking for a pedestrian coming from a blind spot that prevented the driver from noticing him.
If you wonder how it is possible to have working FSD in Moldova, which is not even in the European Union, there's an explanation. The car was brought from the US as a salvaged vehicle, and it was repaired and put back on the road in Moldova. Since it came with FSD already activated, it only took modifying the software to circumvent the geofencing restrictions. While many consider this illegal, Moldova has no laws to prevent modifying software or operating autonomous vehicles. At least not yet.
Tesla is expected to expand FSD to Europe as a natural step after making it work in North America. However, many regulatory hurdles on the Old Continent restrict autonomous vehicle deployment on public roads. Even so, Tesla is actively testing its self-driving software in Europe. The preliminary tests show that FSD V12 is very good, confirming Elon Musk's claim that it's ready for supervised tests in LHD countries. According to Musk, launching in RHD countries will take longer.
In April, Rikard Fredriksson, a senior advisor from the Swedish Transport Administration, shared his experience with Tesla FSD in Germany on Facebook. The test car drove him 45 minutes from the Munich center to the airport. During this trip, the driver had to intervene only once because another driver did not want to let them in front when the lanes merged.
After his childhood dream of becoming a "tractor operator" didn't pan out, Cristian turned to journalism, first in print and later moving to online media. His top interests are electric vehicles and new energy solutions. Full profile
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