Tesla Users Can Now Request For Full Self-Driving With ‘Autosteer’—Should They?
Image via franz12 / Shutterstock.com
Even though Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode has been met with countless controversy and quite a bit of justified safety concerns, the company has pushed ahead with making the beta available to customers who request it.
FSD Beta is still an unfinished prototype of the software, which will reportedly allow its drivers to do things like automatically change lanes or maneuver into a parking lot. Don’t be misled by the name, though; it’s not fully self-driving.
All this costs US$10,000 upfront, with the option to split it at US$199 per month.
A feature in this beta is the ability for drivers to “autosteer” on city streets, as reported by CNBC. The aim of this is for the car to automatically navigate crowded urban environments where other vehicles, people, animals, and cyclists will be on the same road.
It has been said time and time again by the company that even while this mode is active, drivers must remain fully attentive to their surroundings and keep both hands on the wheel. In case of emergency, they should be able to take over driving in an instant.
But are people really going to listen, and how can this be measured?
While Friday night’s public release of the software update thrilled many of Elon Musk’s fans and Tesla owners alike, it was sure to have pushed some buttons when it comes to federal vehicle safety authorities.
Previously, the beta was available to only around 2,000 people, most of which were Tesla employees. This already drew some side-eyes from authorities because the software hadn’t yet been debugged, but untrained users were already testing it on the road.
In an attempt to mitigate this, Tesla has said that it will rank its customers’ eligibility to be granted access to the beta depending on a “safety score.” A few users have shared the measuring system with CNBC and it’s supposedly similar to an insurance risk factor score.
Only drivers with a “great” score for a full week will be granted access to the beta.
According to the screenshots shared with the news outlet, the system will calculate the following elements in a driver’s performance: “Predicted Collision Frequency, Forward Collision Warning per 1,000 Miles, Hard Braking, Aggressive Turning, Unsafe Following Time, and Forced Autopilot Disengagements.”
But really, the fact that the software itself has been leaked online kind of renders all this debate a little less effective than what it might’ve been.
FSD Beta request button goes live tonight, but FSD 10.1 needs another 24 hours of testing, so out tomorrow night
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 25, 2021
[via CNBC, image via franz12 / Shutterstock.com]
Also check out these recent news
