Tesla has reportedly paused the broad rollout of software update 2026.8.6 after drivers reported regressions on older Hardware 3 cars, even as the company reached a first European approval for Full Self-Driving Supervised in the Netherlands. Fleet trackers still place 2026.8.6 on about one-fifth of Tesla’s global fleet, but the pace of new installs has slowed since earlier in the month.
Reports from owners and online posts point to unstable lane behavior on some Hardware 3 cars, along with new or persistent bugs in the update. Users have described the car drifting within a lane on straight roads, and some have said the wipers activate at odd times after the install.
Drivers have also flagged a few other changes. Some say the tap on the speed limit sign no longer resets max speed the way it used to, and some have seen Autospeed capped at 145 km/h instead of 150 km/h. A separate group of third-party comma.ai users says the update broke lateral control in certain man-in-the-middle setups.
Dutch approval arrives
On April 10, the Dutch regulator RDW granted Tesla approval for Full Self-Driving Supervised, marking the first such approval in Europe. Reuters reported that the approval covers supervised use on highways and city streets, and it arrives after long testing and review in the Netherlands.
The approval is not a straight copy of the U.S. version. RDW has said the European system is not one-to-one with the American release, and Europe keeps stricter rules around driver attention and eyes-on-road monitoring. Tesla appears to be balancing a global software push with a separate European path for FSD.
Branch split in software
Some analysts think the pause may be tied to Tesla’s software split between branches. The wider 2026.8.6 release carries the global Autopilot naming changes, but the higher-performance FSD v14.3 stack is shipping inside the 2026.2.9.6 branch. Tesla may be keeping that branch stable for the Dutch rollout so the system matches RDW requirements.
That setup could leave Tesla with two jobs at once. It needs to fix the HW3 issues in 2026.8.6, and it needs to keep the European build aligned with the approved architecture in the Netherlands. A patch release such as 2026.8.7 or a later merged branch now looks like the likely next step.
The 2026.8.6 update also locks in Tesla’s new naming scheme. Navigate on Autopilot is now Navigate on Autosteer, FSD Computer is now AI Computer, and Full Self-Driving is now Full Self-Driving Supervised. Those changes line up with Tesla’s move away from older labels that regulators viewed as misleading.
Security researchers have found another feature in the build, this one tied to driver age estimation through the cabin camera. The system uses facial analysis to estimate age, which appears aimed at stopping minors from starting FSD or shifting the car into drive. Tesla has not made a broad public pitch around the feature, but it is part of the same update package.
Tesla has said the European rollout could expand further after that first national approval, though the timing for wider EU access will depend on regulators.
The company will likely push a fix for the HW3 regressions soon, then keep the new naming rules in place for the next build.
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