Here's How Tesla FSD Handles Europe's Tight City Streets

Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) has spent most of its life learning American roads. So what happens when you point it down a narrow Brussels street lined with tram tracks, roadworks, and an intersection nobody in the car can agree on? A new video gives us a pretty honest answer: mostly impressive, occasionally not.

The clip, posted by robot*irl and covered by InsideEVs, compresses a roughly two-hour drive from Brussels to Charleroi Airport into 17 minutes. The occupants are clearly enthusiastic about the system, and for good stretches of the drive, it earns that enthusiasm.

What FSD Got Right

Some of the best moments were the subtle ones. Early on, the car encountered a vehicle that had been reversing out of a spot and had come to a stop. Instead of slamming on the brakes, FSD recognized the situation and rolled on smoothly. That kind of judgment call is exactly what separates a polished driver-assist system from a nervous one.

Later, with police approaching from behind, the Tesla moved aside to let them pass. It also handled an unprotected left turn across fast-moving traffic after leaving Brussels entirely on its own — the kind of maneuver that makes a lot of human drivers hesitate.

Where It Got Messy

Not everything went smoothly. That police pull-aside left the car partially blocking a pedestrian crossing. At a junction complicated by roadworks and tram tracks, the occupants themselves couldn't tell whether it was a true roundabout or who had the right of way — and because they'd dropped a navigation waypoint in the middle of it, the Tesla circled twice before finding its exit.

The clearest miss came at another junction, where the car picked the wrong lane and then simply continued through it. One occupant flat-out called the maneuver illegal, which it was, though they noted the car didn't hold anyone up or cut anyone off. Notably, the driver didn't intervene even as the car ignored road markings.

The trip ended with a genuine takeover. Approaching the airport drop-off, FSD missed the lane it needed. The driver tried the turn signal, then stopped the car manually to keep it from rolling into a staff-only area, and finished the drive by hand.

The European Rollout Context

This drive lands as FSD's European expansion picks up speed. The Netherlands approved the system in April, initially for use there, and it has since reached Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, and Estonia.

Wider acceptance is still contentious. Swedish regulators have raised concerns about FSD exceeding posted speed limits — drivers can set a speed offset as high as 50%, even though the system still adjusts speed to suit conditions. And despite the name, which has drawn its own share of scrutiny, FSD remains an advanced driver-assistance suite requiring continuous human supervision. It is not an eyes-off Level 3 system.

This edited drive illustrates how useful and advanced FSD has become, but it also shows that it's still far from foolproof.

What This Means If You Drive With FSD

The takeaway for owners is simple: the system is a co-pilot, not a chauffeur. Every one of the rough moments in this video was recoverable by an attentive driver — and the one that wasn't recovered (the illegal lane) happened because the driver chose not to step in.

• Hands ready, eyes up. Tight urban environments with trams, cyclists, and ambiguous priority rules are exactly where supervision matters most.
• Watch your waypoints. A navigation point dropped inside a complex junction sent this car around twice. Set destinations on a clean stretch of road, not in the middle of a roundabout.
• Be extra alert near airports and terminals. Drop-off lanes, restricted zones, and staff-only areas are poorly represented edge cases, and this drive proves it.
• Check your speed offset. If you've dialed in a large offset, you may be exceeding local limits without realizing it — a real issue in countries where enforcement is strict.

The Bottom Line

Brussels threw a lot at FSD — narrow streets, tram tracks, police, roadworks, and a junction that confused even the humans in the car — and the system handled most of it with confidence. But the last few minutes of the trip are the ones worth remembering. A driver who stays engaged makes FSD a genuinely useful tool. A driver who doesn't is the reason regulators across Europe are still taking their time.