France tests Tesla self-driving two months after calling it too risky

Published on 03/09/2026 - 17:20 GMT+2

A first soon on France's roads? On Wednesday 2 September, Paris authorised tests of Tesla self-driving cars on its roads.

The Transport Minister, Philippe Tabarot, also spoke on Wednesday with Tesla boss Elon Musk about the decision. "With two vehicles being made available, we are now entering a new phase: that of on-road trials", the minister said in a message posted on the social network X.

Yet only in July, Paris had initially said it did not intend, at this stage, to authorise Tesla's fully automated, supervised driving system, citing safety concerns. But the minister appears to have changed his mind after his "constructive" exchange with the Tesla CEO.

Robotaxis on the streets of London

Since the start of the year, five European countries have authorised the manufacturer's vehicles equipped with the FSD Supervised system - for Full Self-Driving (Supervised) - to operate on their roads.

Among them is the United Kingdom. Ride-hailing platform Uber and British autonomous driving start-up Wayve have announced the launch in London on Thursday of a commercial service using 15 robotaxis.

Initially, these autonomous vehicles will run under human supervision in the English capital, pending guidance from the London transport regulator (TfL) on the matter. Wayve then plans a rollout in Tokyo, followed by "ten other cities", again in partnership with Uber.