The Flemish government is examining whether self-driving vehicles produced by Elon Musk's American Tesla company could be permitted on Flemish motorways soon. The administration of Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder (Flemish nationalist N-VA) has been tasked with quickly obtaining clarity on a possible approval. Flanders wishes to follow the Netherlands, which has already permitted Tesla’s FSD cars.
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Self-driving Teslas on Flemish motorways? Mobility minister wants clarity by the end of the week!
Colin Clapson
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Last month, the Netherlands became the first country in Europe to decide to allow Tesla’s self-driving cars on public roads. “The rest of Europe could soon follow,” was the argument. The Flemish government is now already looking into the option.
‘Following the pilot project in the Netherlands, I asked Tesla to submit their dossier to us,’ writes Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder on X. ‘The matter is now with my administration.’
The minister has instructed her department to provide clarity on a possible swift approval by the end of the week. ‘You shouldn’t hold back innovation but rather facilitate it in a well-considered and safe manner.’
Ultimate responsibility lies with the driver
Under discussion is permission for the ‘Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised’ cars produced by Tesla, the car company owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk. Following a month-long and highly extensive testing phase, his self-driving cars were finally approved for journeys on the public highway of the Netherlands.
Self-driving cars naturally throw up many questions. ‘It’s not actually a ‘full self-driving’ car, but a ‘mostly self-driving’ car,’ emphasises Steven Latré, AI lead at the Imec research centre. 'It’s a car that drives from point A to point B almost autonomously, but as a driver you must remain alert at all times and assist the car. The car can stop for pedestrians or at a zebra crossing and can turn left and right. But sometimes it still needs a nudge from the driver.'
Latré describes the FSD car as a vehicle that drives autonomously 98 per cent of the time. That doesn’t mean you can sit back and read the newspaper whilst driving. 'The moment you take your eyes off the road, the car will detect this and switch to a more manual mode.'
As a driver, you still bear ultimate responsibility. Although there are also questions as to whether our road network is ready for self-driving cars.
The FSD cars have been built, tested and prepared for the roads in the United States. Our road network is more complex. Although Tesla has certainly done its homework. To secure approval in the Netherlands, 13,000 test drives were completed, amounting to 1.6 million kilometres of testing on European roads.
'The technology has also made progress, so we can see that these cars are capable of handling themselves well.' That said, the system won’t be flawless either. 'But we’re talking about mistakes that we as humans can also make. For example, if we have to look twice or three times at a junction with six or seven streets.'