During the Tesla Battery Day, CEO Elon Musk shared that the electric vehicle maker had rewritten its autopilot software with significant improvements and would be released through a private beta. On Monday, Musk confirmed that the Tesla Full Self-Driving beta would be released 'next week.' Many believed that despite the software's name, it would not make Tesla vehicles fully autonomous.
In a tweet, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed the release of the Full Self-Driving Beta. The executive shared that the 'limited' release of the said build will be available on October 20 to a small number of people. He mentioned that the Tesla Full Self-Driving beta would roll out to 'expert' and 'careful' Tesla drivers.
Over the years, Tesla has maintained adding capabilities to the Self-Driving package of its electric vehicles. However, the company seemed to miss aggressive targets for the introduction of fully autonomous technology. At present, no carmaker offers a vehicle with fully autonomous technology.
A few years ago, Elon Musk said that a Tesla would be able to drive all by itself across the U.S. by the end of 2017. A couple of years later, the CEO shared that he was 'certain' that Tesla vehicles will be able to find its driver in the parking lot, pick up the driver, and take him to his destination without an intervention.
When Tesla vehicles are released, they are equipped with Autopilot. It is the company's driver-assistance technology that can accelerate, steer and brake automatically. The Full Self-Driving technology package costs $8000 and comes with features that enable the Tesla to identify stop signs and traffic lights, change lanes and park automatically.
Limited FSD beta releasing on Tuesday next week, as promised. This will, at first, be limited to a small number of people who are expert & careful drivers. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 12, 2020
Despite the add-ons, the Full Self-Driving technology being offered by Tesla is still far from fully autonomous. A few days before Musk's confirmation of the release of the limited FSD beta, he mentioned that unlike Waymo, that offers a highly specialized solution, Tesla uses a general approach. He noted that the new build offers "zero intervention drives."
That is the only clue that Musk shared about the upcoming Tesla Full Self-Driving beta. In August, he tweeted that the improvement in the FSD technology will come as a quantum leap since it is a 'fundamental architectural rewrite' and not just an 'incremental tweak.' The executive also attested that he drove the cutting-edge alpha build of the technology personally with almost zero interventions from home to work.
