Spain has officially welcomed autonomous driving experiments. With the new ES-AV Programme, a national regulatory framework of automated vehicle testing, the country has given Tesla the push to test its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) (FSD-Supervised) system on all Spanish roads.
The ES-AV Programme was officially introduced by the national traffic authority Dirección General de Tráfico (DGT) in July 2025. It is intended to establish one standardized, transparent, and safe test environment to test automated or remotely operated vehicles – both early prototype and pre-certification vehicles.
The regulation is divided into three testing phases based on technology maturity and operations. In the long term, the gradual approach will assist Spain in developing controlled trials for a general application.
In addition to the enabling tests, ES-AV establishes safety assessment requirements, reporting, and supervision, which directly seek to encourage innovation and maintain traffic safety.
Tesla’s Approval: 19 Cars, Nationwide, Phase 3
As shown in the official filings, the DGT has approved 19 Tesla models to be tested in the country nationwide – a figure that is bound to increase in the long run.
The test time will be from November 27, 202,5, to November 26, 2027. At this stage, Tesla can use its FSD-Supervised vehicles on any domestic road in Spain.
Most importantly, Tesla already has Phase 3 of the ES-AV Programme. It does not require onboard safety drivers and also remote monitoring, which simplifies the way to a more feasible implementation of automated driving.
BREAKING — The European FSD train is charging ahead fast 🇪🇸⚡
Spain made a new legal framework and gives the green light for nationwide FSD testing!
The regulatory document entered into force in July 2025
Tesla has unlimited Spain wide testing approval for 19 vehicles and is… pic.twitter.com/2MNVCdMi9O
— Kees Roelandschap (@KRoelandschap) November 28, 2025
What This Means for Spain and Europe
Through this approval, Spain hopes to become one of the European pioneers in the testing of autonomous vehicles. The ES-AV system, with its openness, control, and security, is an intelligent, organized attempt at automated driving, rather than a mad experiment.
To Tesla and other car manufacturers, this is a glimpse into big data in a national road network on a large scale, and it is real. To regulators, it will be an opportunity to gather evidence that might be required to develop long-term laws that revolve around fully autonomous vehicles.
Furthermore, the Spanish migration can be an indication of a wider change in the EU. Other country regulators will be interested in the ES-AV progress, as they may copy these programs to be rolled out in other countries, especially with increased pressure on the mobility system to be smarter, safer, and efficient.
Before ES-AV, the process of automation in Spain was hesitant. Until as recently as early 2025, only vehicles with automation as far as automation level 2 were permitted, where the vehicle in question required human operators to have the capability to intervene, were typically permitted to be used normally.
In previous permits (including the 2015 regime), automated vehicles under special tests had to have safety drivers or restrictions to controlled zones.
It is high time that Spain changes the law and regulatory framework with ES-AV, so that the country takes into account the emerging nature of driving automation and starts preparing the groundwork to make it more widespread.
