Credit: Tesla Owners Silicon Valley
Tesla boss Elon Musk has flagged a new update of the company’s Full Self Driving (FSD) beta software roll out, promising many improvements and new areas of functionality that could lead to a wider roll out soon.
“Next week’s release is special,” he said in a Tweet. “Lot of fundamental improvements, both important bug fixes & entire new areas of functionality.”
Musk then added in a later Tweet that, “If next week’s release looks good, we will widen beta.”
In early November, Musk indicated that Canada and Norway would be next on the list for countries testing out FSD beta.
The FSD beta roll out is now a month into testing with a small number of Tesla owners, and is being tracked here by The Driven. While the last version (2020.44.10.2) represented a “huge improvement” according to Musk, he is still urging caution.
Musk has not elaborated on what the “entire new areas of functionality” would include, but recent videos posted on Youtube and Twitter by FSD beta testers already show impressive displays of capabilities.
In this video below by Kim Paquette, her Model 3 with FSD recognises, and stops for, a pedestrian not using a zebra crossing – who in thanking her does not even realise it is the car he perhaps should be thanking.
Another video posted by Paquette on Wednesday shows her Model 3 recognising pedestrians when rounding a curve. “It’s really good at this,” she says.
This video posted on Youtube by FSD beta tester James Locke shows the software passing cyclists safely, and automatically slowing down for road work then speeding back up again once the road work has been passed.
The latest comment from Musk suggests that Tesla considers the next roll out of FSD has improved to the extent that it will consider adding more drivers into the beta testing program.
The success of Tesla’s autonomous driving functionality is an integral part of Tesla’s wider plan to implement a fleet of self-driving “robo-taxis” that would allow Tesla owners to recoup the cost of their electric car via autonomous hire-outs.
It is also a key reasoning behind the recent price target upgrade by Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas that stunned the market this week, as the analyst named Tesla’s “internet-of-cars” approach as an industry redefining shift that would see Tesla become a trillion dollar company.
Many Tesla drivers pay up to $A10,000 for FSD, but apart from a few features such as “summon”, are waiting for the full technology rollout. Tesla will also likely offer a monthly subscription for FSD, one of the key elements of Jonas’ re-appraisal of the company’s future value.
Importantly, Tesla’s FSD autonomous driving software does not require the mapping of an area. Instead it can recognise road features as well as use a “4D” approach to link object recognition through time and space to ensure data continuity and trajectory projection, thereby allowing the vehicles to respond to a broad range of use cases.
The FSD beta software is being incrementally upgraded as Tesla’s neural network “learns” from driver feedback and data, with regular updates pushed out using Tesla’s over-the-air software upgrade functionality.
Each upgrade theoretically allows vehicles with FSD to process more “edge cases” that are not typically thrown up in simulation environments.
Release notes from Tesla that accompany the FSD beta software warns beta testers to use it with “additional caution”, and not “become complacent”. Drivers must be attentive and ready to take the wheel to intervene at all times.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.
The rebound in sales after the release of the refreshed Model 3 was shortlived. Tesla,…
Former president Ronald Reagan's big hopes for EV manufacturing may have been dashed after the…
Australia risks stalling efforts to cut transport emissions if it does not reintroduce tax breaks…
We can’t get to a zero carbon economy by swapping heavy and inefficient ICE vehicles…
Xiaomi set a lap record for the fastest four-door production car at Germany's iconic Nürburgring…
New Zealand's biggest utility reapplies old EV batteries into a charging facility, while German start-up…