After endless delays with seemingly no end in sight, Tesla is finally rolling out the long-awaited version 9 update for its Full Self-Driving beta. Version 9 aims to make the Full Self-Driving feature more reliable and functional, getting Tesla one step closer to making autonomous cars a reality.
Although Tesla has been selling the dream of fully autonomous cars for years now, driving a Tesla today still requires a great deal of attention from the driver. Autopilot, which is the suite of self-driving features every Tesla owner receives for free, adds automatic steering, acceleration, and braking within a single lane. If users want to add additional self-driving functionality, they need to purchase the $10,000 Full Self-Driving add-on. This helps take the experience up a notch, adding automatic lane changes, automatic parking, and more.
Ever since 2018, Elon Musk has been promising the release of Full Self-Driving beta version 9. It's been hyped up over the years as the next big step forward for the Full Self-Driving software, and as of July 10, it's finally rolling out to users. The update is only for Tesla owners enrolled in the beta/early access program right now, though it is expected to make its way to more drivers in the coming weeks/months. People can join the beta program right from their Tesla's main display if they wish, with the option to join found in the Service section of the interface.
So, what exactly is new with the long-awaited version 9 update? The most notable change is seen with how in-car displays now show the self-driving visualizations (basically the graphics/interface showing how the car is driving on its own). The visualizations should offer cleaner and easier-to-read information, allowing drivers to better understand what the car is 'seeing' and why it makes the driving decisions that it does. On a technical level, version 9 also enables Tesla Vision — a system that allows the cars to only rely on their optical cameras and not radar sensors. All of this should result in Full Self-Driving being more accurate, safer, and a better experience overall. Musk and Tesla have so much faith in it, in fact, that it's often been pitched as the 'feature complete' version of the Full Self-Driving system.
As exciting as all of that is, Full Self-Driving beta version 9 does still come with ample safety warnings. In the release notes for the update, Tesla warns "Full Self-Driving is in early limited access Beta and must be used with additional caution." It goes on to note that Full-Self Driving "may do the wrong thing at the worst time, so you must always keep your hands on the wheel and pay extra attention on the road." While it's good Tesla is being upfront with the safety aspect of this update, it is concerning that the 'feature complete' version of Full Self-Driving still comes with such a hefty warning. There's nothing wrong about telling drivers to be safe, but saying someone's car "may do the wrong thing at the worst time" doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in the feature. Furthermore, while Musk tweeted that the version 9 update "addresses most known issues," he also commented that "there will be unknown issues, so please be paranoid."
With all of that said, it is worth pointing out a very limited number of people will be using Full Self-Driving beta version 9 right out of the gate. Electrek points out that only around 2,000 Tesla owners are currently enrolled in the beta program, with many of them being Tesla employees. Full Self-Driving can only get better with each update that comes out, but from the sounds of things, Tesla still has a long way to go before it becomes a mainstream thing.
Source: r/TeslaMotors, Elon Musk, Electrek
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