Tesla is significantly reducing the capabilities of its Autopilot self-driving technology in Europe, in order to meet new regulations on driver assist capabilities.

Electrek reports that Model S and Model X drivers are abut to receive a firmware update that effectively neuters the capacity of Autopilot, compared to the capabilities in the United States.

The update, which Telsa is emailing EU customers about, has already been pushed to European owners of the Model 3 vehicle, so this will bring the other cars into line.

The firm says it is disappointed with the requirements “regulators have chosen to impose, limiting the effectiveness of these features, and will continue to advocate that full functionality be restored.”

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The changes are explained in the email by Tesla below:

Auto Lane Change will be restricted for use on divided roads with two or more lanes of traffic in either direction. Once Auto Lane Change is activated and the indicator is turned on, your car will wait a minimum of one and a half seconds before starting the lane change and will wait up to five seconds before cancelling if the lane change has not been able to start. The limit of how far the steering wheel can turn while using Autosteer is reduced and can affect your car’s ability to maneuver curves or stay within the lane, require you to take action. Summon will require that you be within six meters of your car’s location to operate.

You’ll receive a reminder to hold steering wheel if it does not detect your hands on the wheel for 15 seconds.

Judging by the contents of the email, it appears as if Autopilot will be practically useless once the update comes into effect. Hopefully, Elon Musk’s firm can work with the European regulators in order to loosen restrictions as time goes on.

Chris Smith is a freelance technology journalist for a host of UK tech publications, including Trusted Reviews. He's based in South Florida, USA. …