Tesla owners in Slovakia welcome assisted-drive tech as EU weighs rollout across bloc

BRATISLAVA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Latvia and Slovakia are the latest European countries to approve Tesla's assisted-driving software, to the delight of some local motorists who campaigned for it, though challenges remain as the rollout begins.

Latvia on Monday became the 10th European country to approve Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD) software, following on the heels of Slovakia's approval of the technology earlier this month. They mark another step in Tesla's push to bring the technology to Europe, where the company is seeking support ahead of a crucial vote that could pave the way for a broader rollout EU-wide.

In Slovakia, Igor Marcek, 35, bought his own Tesla two years ago and is getting increasingly excited about the possibility of TAD, recently renamed from FSD.

"At some point the car will be able to drive on its own and save us time and energy, and we will be able to maybe deal with some other things while driving," said Marcek, a financial agent and life coach in Bratislava.

Still, a test drive of a Tesla installed with TAD - which has a monthly subscription of €99 ($110.92)/month per month - highlighted safety issues.

While the software smoothly handled congested highway driving and traffic merges, Marcek had to manually slam on the brakes when the car failed to slow down for a closed barrier.

At a Supercharger station, the car failed to steer into an open charging bay, leading Marcek to take over.

"It is still a technology that is evolving so you really have to be awake there and pay attention to what the car is doing," he said.

SAFETY ISSUES

Tesla enthusiasts across Europe have mounted vocal campaigns to speed up deployment, often encouraged by the company and CEO Elon Musk to lobby local authorities.

In Slovakia, the Tesla Owners Slovakia club - which has 1,500 registered members - organised a coordinated vehicle light show outside the transport ministry to draw regulators' attention to the technology, Marcek said.

The group also contacted the Slovakian Transport Ministry following the initial Dutch approval, and were in frequent contact with it requesting updates, the club's president, Kristian Kratochvil, said.

Tesla says that TAD can prevent collisions by more than four times and save lives, numbers that are highly contested by safety researchers.

The technology has faced heightened regulatory friction across the European Union. Regulators in some countries have raised safety concerns and questioned whether drivers can stay sufficiently attentive.

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(Reporting by Radovan Stoklasa in Bratislava Marie Mannes in Stockholm, additional reporting by Vera Dvorakova, writing by Marie Mannes, editing by Susan Fenton)