Grünheide, the Brandenburg municipality that is home to Tesla's only European car factory, wants Tesla shuttles carrying its schoolchildren before the end of 2026. According to the mayor, self-driving Tesla shuttles are to start in the municipality this year, the regional daily Märkische Oderzeitung (MOZ) reported on 17 October. Tesla will put its own safety drivers in the cars, which makes the plan a supervised pilot rather than a driverless service.

What the municipality plans

MOZ's report sits behind a paywall. Teslamag, which summarised it on 20 October, gives the details:

  • The mayor briefed the municipal council last week on the new service agreed with Tesla.
  • It is meant for the staff and pupils of Grünheide's primary school, which has had a second site since this year. The shuttles would run between the two sites, about 8 km apart.
  • The start is waiting for a rail overpass between the two sites, which is expected to be finished in November.
  • Tesla safety drivers will ride in the shuttles and can intervene when needed.

Neither report quotes Tesla. No vehicle count, timetable or cost has been published.

Supervised, not driverless

The safety driver is the detail that matters. As Teslamag points out, a Tesla employee ready to take over makes this the ordinary use of FSD (Supervised), which Tesla now markets in Europe as Tesla Assisted Driving, rather than an autonomous shuttle.

Germany has not approved that system for its own roads. Nine European countries have, most recently Slovakia on 16 October, and Germany's transport minister has said he will push for approval across the EU.

The template already exists. Since May, two Model Ys have carried pupils and older residents around Prüm in the Eifel in a pilot run by the local authorities and Tesla, with a Tesla employee behind the wheel. According to Teslamag, MOZ names that project as the model for Grünheide.

Why Grünheide matters

It would be Tesla's second shuttle pilot in Germany, and the first in Brandenburg, whose transport ministry has been talking to Tesla about driverless shuttles on rural routes since the summer. Those talks named no route and no date. Grünheide's plan names both: two school sites, and a start once the overpass opens.

It is also Tesla's home ground. The Gigafactory is the largest industrial employer in the region and in Brandenburg, Teslamag notes. The route is short and fixed, and a safety driver is on board. A German approval of the system itself would be a separate decision, and it has not been made.

What to watch

The first checkpoint is the overpass in November. After that, the questions are whether Tesla or the municipality names a start date, how many cars run, and who may ride. If Germany approves FSD (Supervised) nationally, the next question is whether the safety drivers stay.

Update: 2026-10-20

On 20 October 2026, the regional broadcaster rbb reported, citing a Tesla document it has seen, that the test runs are meant in particular for teachers at Grünheide's Gerhart Hauptmann primary school who have to travel between its two sites during the school day. That narrows the earlier reports of a shuttle for staff and pupils: rbb names only teachers as passengers.

According to the document, the car is a Model Y that drives the fixed route on Tesla Assisted Driving for the whole trip, with a trained safety driver at the wheel who can intervene at any time and remains responsible for driving. rbb says the runs are planned for a few months at first and could be extended. Mayor Arne Christiani confirmed the plan. The document also ties the pilot to the state government's aim of making Brandenburg a model region for autonomous driving. rbb quotes no Tesla statement.