Self-Driving Teslas, Apple Lawsuit, Kidney Drone, and a 500-Year Anatomy Correction

From autonomous vehicle controversies in Flanders to a landmark lawsuit between tech giants, a medical drone breakthrough in France, and a Flemish discovery that rewrites anatomy textbooks — July 14, 2026, brought a remarkable convergence of technology and innovation news from Belgium and beyond.

Self-Driving Teslas in Flanders: Approval Amid Controversy

Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder (N-VA) is defending her decision to approve Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised system on all Belgian roads, despite an official advisory from her own department raising serious safety concerns. The approval, granted on June 10, came after just 5,000 kilometers of testing in Flanders — a figure opposition politicians call “very limited.”

According to VRT NWS, the Department of Mobility and Public Works flagged several critical issues in its official advice: the system struggles to interpret traffic signs, road markings, and infrastructure elements like railroad crossings in the Flemish context; multiple traffic rule violations occurred during testing requiring driver intervention; and the so-called “offset function” allows exceeding legal speed limits.

The advisory also warned that “the driver evolves from an active participant in traffic to a supervisor, which leads to reduced engagement and a decrease in ‘situational awareness.’”

De Ridder, however, remains steadfast. “I have said from the very beginning: it is not a self-driving car where you can drink coffee in the back seat,” she told Radio 1. “You must be able to take over the steering at all times.” She cited positive interim results, noting that in the Netherlands — which granted the first European type-approval under UN Regulation No. 171 on April 10 — FSD has 3.5 times fewer collisions than human drivers.

The Netherlands’ approval followed 1.6 million kilometers of testing with 9 vehicles over 18 months and 13,000 customer ride-alongs, as Electrek reported. Bogdan Vanden Berghe of the Groen opposition party called the 5,000 km of Flemish testing “very limited” and referenced a Reuters investigation alleging Tesla used misleading statistics.

Apple Files Explosive Lawsuit Against OpenAI

In a dramatic reversal of one of tech’s most high-profile partnerships, Apple has sued OpenAI in federal court in Northern California, alleging systematic theft of trade secrets to develop consumer hardware products.

The lawsuit, filed on July 10, names OpenAI, Jony Ive’s startup IO Products (acquired by OpenAI for $6.4 billion), and former Apple employees Tang Tan and Chang Liu as defendants. According to CNBC, Apple alleges that OpenAI’s hardware chief Tang Tan directed Apple employees interviewing at OpenAI to bring “actual parts” from Apple for “show and tell” sessions, and that departing employees were coached on how to evade security processes.

“This much is clear, however: at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” Apple’s legal filing states.

The partnership between the two companies began in 2024 when ChatGPT was integrated into the iPhone’s operating system through Apple Intelligence. Relations deteriorated after OpenAI acquired Ive’s startup and announced plans to enter the hardware market. Apple’s updated Siri assistant, expected this fall, now uses Google’s Gemini AI models instead of OpenAI’s technology.

OpenAI responded: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets.” The lawsuit presents another risk to OpenAI as it prepares for a historic IPO, coming just two months after it won a high-profile trial against Elon Musk.

World First: Kidney Flown by Drone at 120 km/h in France

In a breakthrough for medical logistics, a kidney was successfully transported by drone between two hospitals in western France on July 14 — a world first for organ transport.

The test flight covered 60 kilometers between the University Hospital of Nantes (CHU Nantes) and the hospital of La Roche-sur-Yon in approximately 35 minutes, reaching speeds of up to 120 km/h. According to HLN, the drone — built by Delivrone with a wingspan of 2.70 meters — maintained the kidney at a steady 4°C throughout the flight, despite outside temperatures approaching 32°C.

“The shorter the transport time, the faster the transplanted kidney functions again and the greater the survival chances of the organ,” said Professor Julien Branchereau of CHU Nantes. Drone transport is reportedly twice as fast as car transport for this route.

The kidney used was intended for scientific research rather than actual transplant. Hospitals are now evaluating whether donor organs can be transported by drone under real conditions in the future — which would be a European first.

Flemish Discovery Corrects 500-Year-Old Anatomy Error

Dr. Thomas Mathieu, a 35-year-old physical physician and sports medicine doctor at the University of Antwerp and AZ Rivierenland, has discovered that anatomy textbooks have been wrong for nearly 500 years about the structure of the thigh muscles.

Since the 16th century, when Belgian anatomist Andreas Vesalius first described the anatomy, textbooks have taught that three separate thigh muscles (the long, short, and slender adductors) each attach independently to the pubic bone. Dr. Mathieu’s doctoral research, based on 44 cadaver dissections, revealed that these muscles can fuse together, forming a single thick cable. In 90% of cases, the thin and short thigh muscles were fused together.

“It’s not correct what the anatomy books say,” Dr. Mathieu told HLN. “The three thigh muscles should not be seen as three separate cables, but as one thick cable.”

The discovery, published in the peer-reviewed journal Annals of Anatomy, has led to the identification of a new condition called “Mathieu syndrome” — an injury to the inferior pubic ligament that is often the cause of chronic groin pain, which affects thousands in Belgium and over a million patients worldwide.

More importantly, it has transformed treatment. Surgery is no longer the first option, as cutting one tendon can destabilize the entire fused tendon plate. Anti-inflammatory medication can now be administered with extreme precision using ultrasound guidance, and rehabilitation treats the three muscles as one unit. Dr. Mathieu’s approach has become the international standard for treating groin pain.

“Chronic groin pain affects thousands of people in our country alone,” Dr. Mathieu said. “Worldwide, it concerns a million patients or more.”

Looking Ahead

These four stories illustrate the breadth of innovation touching Belgian and European life — from the regulatory challenges of autonomous driving and the high-stakes legal battles of the AI industry, to life-saving medical logistics and fundamental corrections to scientific knowledge. As self-driving Teslas hit Flemish roads, Apple and OpenAI face off in court, drones begin to transform organ transplantation, and a Flemish doctor’s name enters medical textbooks worldwide, the pace of technological change shows no signs of slowing.