Tesla removed drivers who were not paying attention to the full beta of self-driving as it expands



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Elon Musk says Tesla has removed drivers from the full beta that they believe were not paying enough attention.

The automaker has also extended the beta to a total of around 2,000 Tesla owners.

Last week, Musk announced that Tesla was doubling the size of its Full Self-Driving Beta program.

In October 2020, Tesla began offering a full beta of self-driving to owners of the “Early Access” program, a group of Tesla owners who test early versions of new Tesla features before a larger version of Tesla. the fleet.

The software update was seen as a major step towards fulfilling Tesla’s long-standing promise to make its vehicles “fully autonomous” through over-the-air software updates.

While the update doesn’t translate into a truly self-driving vehicle since the onus is still on the driver, which Tesla still needs to stay alert and be ready to take control at all times, it bridges the gap with the driver. Tesla autopilot highway driving. and allows Tesla’s Driver Assistance System to control the vehicle on city streets and through intersections.

Tesla owners using the FSD beta can give the car a destination and the vehicle will attempt to drive them there autonomously, with the driver keeping their hands on the wheel and ready to take over.

The company has reported around 1,000 people, some Tesla employees and others outside the company, in the beta program.

Now Musk confirmed today that the program has been expanded to around 2,000 owners and he also said that some who were previously in the program have had their access revoked:

“FSD Beta has now expanded to around 2,000 owners and we have also revoked the beta where drivers were not paying enough attention to the road. No accident to date. “

The CEO confirmed that Tesla used its driver-facing camera to monitor the driver’s attention in the beta program.

Musk also announced that Tesla is getting closer to its goal of having its autonomous driving system based purely on computer vision:

“The next major release will be in April. Go with pure vision – not even using radar. This is the path to real world AI. “

Instead of going with a usual larger version of the system, Tesla will give more people access to the beta program via a new “download beta” button in the vehicle UI for people who have purchased. the Full Self-Driving package.

The button is expected to be added later this month.

Taking Electrek

I’m okay with trying to get the driver’s attention, but I think you get into a sticky situation when you take away features that owners have paid for.

I understand this is the beta, but Tesla has its own definition of “beta”. The automaker says it is using the word to try to avoid driver complacency.

The problem is, Tesla has had autopilot functionality in “beta” for years.

Therefore, this begs the question: when are they going to give these owners back their functionality? When FSD comes out of “beta”?

My understanding is that it won’t come out of beta until it truly becomes self-sufficient and Tesla takes responsibility for it.

Obviously Tesla is on the cutting edge here and understands it as they go, but I think they’re opening up to some issues here.

To be honest, it’s not like I have a solution. I think this approach is probably better since you remove some risk, but it’s tricky.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.

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