Elon Musk Announces Full Self-Driving FSD Beta

Tesla and its founder and boss Elon Musk talked about complete vehicle autonomy years ago, but until now the autopilot was only used to support the human driver. But now the “Full Self-Driving Beta” actually starts.

Elon Musk is considered a visionary, but some consider the Tesla boss to be simply a dreamer and, to put it less nicely, a steamy chat. For example, Musk already mentioned years ago that you could call your Tesla via the app – even if the vehicle is on the west coast and you are somewhere on the east coast of the USA.

This and other statements of this kind also led many Tesla to think that the autopilot (too promising a name for many) is capable of more and can actually drive completely itself. Tesla never claimed that, but it did result in a few accidents.

Starting signal for full self-driving beta

Now Tesla is actually getting closer to full autonomy because Elon Musk has announced the start of the beta phase for “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) functionality. This means that first Tesla owners can try out this feature in the wild. However, Musk also announced on Twitter that they would proceed “extremely slowly and carefully”.

Specifically, this means that the associated update will only be released for a small number of Tesla vehicles and that it should only concern “experts and careful drivers”.

What exactly the Full Self-Driving Beta offers is not yet known. According to Electrek, the existing function for traffic lights and stop signs should be expanded to include turning at intersections. In combination with the navigation function from Teslas, the new FSD functions will make it possible to drive in cities and on highways without “input” from the driver – but for the time being, supervision is still mandatory.