Tesla just pulled off a geopolitical plot twist. Forget Germany, the historic cradle of the automobile. Forget Belgium, the heart of the European Union. If you want to experience the future of Elon Musk’s semi-autonomous empire, you need to pack your bags and head straight to Lithuania.
Following in the footsteps of the Netherlands, Lithuania has officially become the second European nation to greenlight Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised). It seems Baltic authorities looked at the glacial pace of EU regulatory approval and simply said: “Why, wait?”.
Of course, before anyone gets too excited and decides to take a nap in the back seat of a Model 3 while cruising down the highway to Vilnius, let’s inject a healthy dose of reality. We are talking about Supervised FSD here. This is not a license to transform your EV into a mobile bedroom. Iit remains an advanced driver-assistance system. The biological unit in the driver’s seat is still legally responsible for not crashing. You must keep your eyes on the road, your hands ready to intervene, and your prayers directed toward the latest software patch.
For Elon Musk, this is a massive psychological victory. Tesla’s ultimate goal is to conquer the entire Old Continent, but until Brussels makes a definitive ruling on the proposal by the Dutch RDW authority, rogue nations taking independent initiative will do just fine.
For local Lithuanian Tesla owners equipped with Hardware 4, the timing is impeccable. For a brief moment, the privilege of letting an AI algorithm negotiate local traffic could be purchased as a permanent package for 7,500 euros.
Moving forward, however, Tesla is shifting toward a much more digestible 99-euro monthly subscription model. It is a calculated consumer move. Why buy the cow when you can just rent the self-driving autonomy for your summer road trip? As the rest of Europe watches from the sidelines, the Baltic acceleration has officially begun.
