We'd just joined the M1 at Leicester on a Friday evening when the elder boy leant forward between the seats and asked why I was still holding the steering wheel. He'd watched a video of a Tesla driving itself round London, the driver's hands in their lap, and wanted to know why ours couldn't. The younger boy asked whether it would if he asked nicely. The dog was asleep in the boot and had no view.
Our 2019 Model 3 was steering at the time. It held its lane and its distance from a lorry while I held the wheel and watched the road. That's Autopilot in Britain in 2026, and we use it for most of the 200-odd miles to Yorkshire. The car in the video was running Tesla's Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which isn't available in the UK yet.
So over the weekend I looked into how far the software and the law have got. In short, Tesla Autopilot is legal in the UK as long as you stay in control, because the driver is still responsible for the car. Tesla FSD in the UK is still waiting for approval, and when it comes, our Model 3's computer won't run it.
Hands on, from Leicester to Woodall
From April 2019 every new Tesla came with Autopilot, meaning Traffic-Aware Cruise Control, which keeps your speed and the gap to the car in front, and Autosteer, which steers within a clearly marked lane (Tesla UK support, as of October 2026). Tesla says Autosteer is designed for motorways with a centre divider, clear lane markings and no cross-traffic. The M1 between junction 21 and Woodall services is about as close to that as Britain gets.
Two pulls down on the stalk and the steering wheel icon turns blue. Autosteer works between 18 and 85 mph (Model 3 owner's manual), so I set it to 70 and turn it down when the gantries say so. It measures the turning force on the wheel, and if my hands are too light it nags, first on the screen and then with a chime the boys can now imitate. Ignore it often enough and Autosteer switches off for the rest of the trip, and repeat offenders lose it for about a week. I don't plan to find out.
On basic Autopilot the lane changes are mine. I indicate, check the mirror and steer across, and the car drops back to cruise control until I pull the stalk again. In roadworks, with narrow lanes and a 50 mph limit, I switch Autosteer off before the cones start, because I'd rather hold the line myself next to a lorry. Once or twice a year it brakes for something I can't see, usually under a bridge on a bright day, so my right foot stays near the pedals.
What it gives back is attention. After two hours the car has done the tiring work of holding the lane, and I arrive at our usual Supercharger at Woodall in a better mood than I ever did in the Discovery Sport. My partner has confirmed this independently.
The £4,900 box I didn't tick
When we ordered the Model 3 in May 2019, Full Self-Driving Capability cost £4,900 at the time of order, or £6,800 added later. The small print said the features needed active driver supervision and did not make the car autonomous (Engadget, May 2019). I read that twice, decided I was being asked to pay for a promise, and left the box empty. My partner, reading over my shoulder, approved.
Model 3s built from about April 2019 got Tesla's own computer, known as HW3 (Electrek, November 2019). I checked under Controls and Software, and ours has HW3.
In the UK, that £4,900 would by now have bought Auto Lane Change, Navigate on Autosteer (which suggests lane changes and takes motorway exits), Autopark, Summon and traffic light recognition. All of them still need my hands and eyes, and "Autosteer on city streets" is still listed as upcoming. Tesla stopped selling the package outright in Britain in May (Drive Tesla Canada, May 2026). It's now a subscription, £99 a month on a new Model Y (Tesla design studio, as of 7 October 2026), and a car with the right hardware can subscribe from the app. I've thought about subscribing for a month before a Yorkshire trip, but on the M1 Navigate on Autosteer would mostly suggest the lane change I was about to make.
The bigger reason I'm glad is the computer. The FSD (Supervised) approved in Europe this year only runs on Tesla's newer AI4 computer, so HW3 cars are left out. Elon Musk said in January 2025 that Tesla would need to replace HW3 in cars where FSD was bought, but by April 2026 there was no programme or date (Electrek, April 2026). A 2019 owner who did tick the box is still waiting.
How far Europe has got
The software in the boy's video is still driver assistance, so the driver must watch the road and be ready to take over, but it also steers through junctions and towns. In April the Dutch vehicle authority, the RDW, approved it under UN Regulation 171, the international rule for driver assistance of this kind. Dutch drivers can take their hands off the wheel in the right conditions while the car checks they're watching the road (Electrek, April 2026). By the end of September eight EU countries had approved it, and an EU-wide vote has slipped to December, with Germany and Sweden both uneasy about how far it can go over the speed limit (Not a Tesla App, 29 September 2026).
None of that decides anything here. Cars sold new in Great Britain need GB type approval from the Vehicle Certification Agency, so an EU decision doesn't carry over by itself. Tesla's Model Y page says "Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is not yet available in United Kingdom" (Tesla, as of 7 October 2026). Tesla hasn't given a British date.
Where the law stands in Britain
The rule that matters today is Highway Code rule 150. It says you must exercise proper control of your vehicle at all times, and that if you use a driver assistance system such as motorway assist, you're still responsible for the vehicle. Autopilot is driver assistance, so if it gets something wrong on the M1, it's my fault. FSD (Supervised) would be the same, which is what the word in brackets means.
Cars that drive themselves come under the Automated Vehicles Act 2024. Once a vehicle is authorised as self-driving and is driving itself, the person in the driver's seat becomes a "user-in-charge", who doesn't commit an offence because of the way it drives (section 47). Pilots of driverless taxi services were brought forward to spring 2026, and the full Act is expected to apply from the second half of 2027 (gov.uk, June 2025).
The Act also lets the government reserve words such as "self-driving" for authorised vehicles, and makes misusing them in marketing an offence (section 78). I'm curious what Tesla's British brochure will call the package then.
February's Model Y and its newer computer
The Model Y arrives in February, and Model Ys delivered in the UK have had the newer computer, now called AI4, since 2024 (Tesla Mag, April 2024). If FSD (Supervised) is approved here, that's the car in our house that could run it. Why we picked a Model Y over a second Model 3 is a separate story.
Looking at our order this month, the design studio lists Autosteer among the features in the £99-a-month package, and the Model Y page promises emergency braking and lane departure avoidance as standard. In North America, new Model 3s and Model Ys stopped coming with Autosteer in January (Electrek, January 2026). Whether ours steers on the M1 without a subscription is the first thing I'll check at handover. If you're pricing one, you can compare the trims in Tesla's design studio(referral link) through our referral link and see what each includes before you commit.
What I'd tell a friend
Autopilot is worth having on a long motorway run, and it's legal as long as you're the one driving. Treat it as very good cruise control that also steers, and take over in roadworks. Don't buy a Tesla in Britain for Full Self-Driving. Buy it for what it does today and treat FSD (Supervised) as a bonus if it arrives. If it comes while we have the Model Y, I'll pay for a month before a Yorkshire run and report back.
The elder boy has accepted that my hands stay on the wheel. He now checks from the back seat that they are.
If this would be your first Tesla, ordering a new Model 3 or Model Y through our referral link(referral link) gets you 650 free Supercharging miles (as of October 2026), about one and a half return trips to Yorkshire for us. Use it before you place the order, because Tesla can't add it afterwards.
