Tesla's FSD beta testers are thrilled with the latest version of FSD software and asked Elon Musk if it's time to release FSD to all Tesla drivers. Musk, however, said he still believes the software "needs more work."
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Tesla first started working on fully self-driving vehicles back in 2014. At the time, Elon Musk said by 2017, a Tesla vehicle would be able to drive from Los Angeles to New York fully autonomously. However, years have elapsed since Musk’s promise, and we have yet to see a Tesla do the cross-country trip without any human intervention.
According to Musk, the main reason for the delay was that he made the 2014 prediction based on the rate of improvement he was seeing in Tesla’s autopilot software. However, Musk later admitted the improvements started to tail off, and the autopilot software as designed by Tesla had reached a local maximum.
This means it became apparent to Tesla that no matter how much training data the EV maker added to the autopilot AI, it will not deliver level 5 autonomy. After realizing this, Musk assembled a new autopilot software and hardware team and did a fundamental architectural rewrite of the full self-driving software.
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In October of 2020, Tesla released the new autopilot software to 2000 or so Tesla drivers in the company’s Early Access Program. Since then, Tesla has been improving the new autopilot software, now called FSD beta, and currently, the software is deployed on 100,000 Tesla vehicles in the United States and Canada.
Last month Tesla released the latest FSD update, FSD Beta 10.11.2. This new version is a minor improvement on Tesla’s FSD Beta 10.11.1 software. However, as people have spent more time testing out the new software, more and more FSD Beta testers are starting to be convinced that the EV maker is close to achieving level 5 autonomy.
One such happy tester, Tesla enthusiast and investor Galileo Russell communicated this sentiment to Elon Musk. Russel wrote on Twitter, “FSD Beta has been outstanding with this new version,” and that it’s making him more bullish that Tesla will be able to make FSD Beta twice safer than a human driver this year.
Russel then added that FSD “seems ready for wide release.” Musk, in his response, took a more cautious tone writing that he feels the software “still needs some work.”
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Even though Musk ruled out the current FSD Beta as the software iteration that will be released beyond Tesla’s 100,000 testers, Musk gave a consolation writing “we can probably widen the beta a little next month.”
Tesla’s next FSD update, FSD Beta 10.11.12, is expected to be released any day now. According to Musk, the next update will be a significant upgrade as it will transition more driving situations to using surround video for driving.
We will be sure to keep you up to date with all the FSD Beta improvements when Tesla releases the next software. Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest Tesla news.
So what do you think? Do you agree with Elon Musk that the latest FSD Beta software needs more work? Also, when do you think we will see fully self-driving robotaxis from Tesla? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Image: Courtesy of Tesla
For more information check out: Tesla's Robot is a Done Deal - Says Everyone in the AI Industry
Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.
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Don’t even begin to kid
Don’t even begin to kid yourself that it is anything beyond a level 2 driver assist system that requires constant vigilance and frequent driver intervention. It’s a long long ways from being useful. In fact, it is fraudulent and dangerous.