France has started independent on-road testing of two Tesla-provided FSD cars, Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said on Sept. 2. The tests are not an approval, not a French customer rollout, and not a yes vote.
In a Sept. 2 post on X, Tabarot described a constructive exchange with Elon Musk. He said French authorities have worked with Tesla for months on technical adaptations so France can support homologation decided at the European level in the coming weeks. Tesla provided two FSD-equipped vehicles. The new phase, he said, is on-road testing.
Reuters, via Channel NewsAsia, reported from Paris on Sept. 3 that France began tests on those two cars, after a meeting initiated by Tesla. A ministry source said France wants its own tests to verify Dutch and Tesla data on French roads and urban layouts, with results aimed for mid to late September. The same source said the EU’s Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles meets Oct. 6, and that a vote could come that day or in early December. Either timing remains possible.
The system under test is supervised driver assistance. Reuters reported that FSD can accelerate, brake, and steer while the human driver remains ready to intervene. It is not a fully self-driving car. Tesla had no immediate comment, Reuters said.
In that same Reuters report, Tabarot’s July position is still on the record. He said safety trade-offs were not yet sufficient to justify authorisation, specifically speed limitation and driver attention warnings. These tests are not an approval.
TeslaNorth reported that Tesla France told newsrooms the two cars go to UTAC for its own tests, that they are series French-market cars rather than prototypes, and that Tesla has tested FSD in France since 2024 (more than 200,000 km) and claims more than 5,000 customer ride-alongs since December 2025. Those points are Tesla France’s account to reporters, not Tabarot’s statement and not Reuters.