6.0 - Public Beta

[airj1012]

Elon mentioned that once 5.9 was completely rolled out and everything looks good, then members of the public beta group would start receiving the 6.0 upgrade. Do we have any community members in that group? Still sounds like 6.0 is quite a ways away.

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/452535291115352064

 

[dirkhh]

I was curious about the qualifier "public" in that tweet. We have known for a while that some people out there are beta testers, but apparently they get kicked out for even ADMITTING that they are in the beta test, even if they don't leak a word about what they are testing.
Many of us have tried to offer our services as beta testers...

 

[steve841]

NOTE TO TESLA:

I volunteer! VIN noted below!

 

[beck.christopher]

Pick me!

 

[Gizmotoy]

Not even the service center knows how you get on the beta list, so I wouldn't hold my breath

 

[Shumdit]

Not even the service center knows how you get on the beta list, so I wouldn't hold my breath

I heard if you name one of your kids Elon it helps.

 

[bob_p]

Software companies have offered public betas successfully - it's actually a great way to get a lot of free testing done - from customers that are willing to live with the warts to get access to the new features. A lot of the angst on the forums would go away - if there was an "opt in" for beta testing - as long as everyone understands there's risk of major issues with any beta software.

I've participated in many public and private betas - and would be willing to participate in a beta - because the best time to provide feedback to the developers - on getting functionality right - is during the testing phase. By the time the software is released, the developers typically have already moved onto to their next project - and going back to tweak their previous work usually gets harder.

 

[rbergquist]

I'd volunteer for the Beta firmware program. When buying my Sig, I was expecting to be a beta tester -- Tesla just hasn't made it official.

 

[yobigd20]

but aren't we all beta testers for Tesla?

lol

 

[tomas]

Software companies have offered public betas successfully - it's actually a great way to get a lot of free testing done - from customers that are willing to live with the warts to get access to the new features. A lot of the angst on the forums would go away - if there was an "opt in" for beta testing - as long as everyone understands there's risk of major issues with any beta software.

I've participated in many public and private betas - and would be willing to participate in a beta - because the best time to provide feedback to the developers - on getting functionality right - is during the testing phase. By the time the software is released, the developers typically have already moved onto to their next project - and going back to tweak their previous work usually gets harder.

Have posted on this before… Personally I'm all for public and open beta testing for consumer devices, computer software, etc. For a vehicle, I think Tesla is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT to keep their beta testing to a small circle of people they know and have presumably vetted. Of all the people who post that they'd jump at this, many would balk at a full legal disclaimer, and most would have a lawyer looking for a loophole in agreement if something went wrong. Not that I think anything would, could, or should, but there's just too much at stake here to treat it like Roku, iPad, or MSWord.

 

[ecarfan]

Elon mentioned that once 5.9 was completely rolled out and everything looks good, then members of the public beta group would start receiving the 6.0 upgrade. Do we have any community members in that group?

My guess is that the public beta testers do not reveal their status on these forums. They may be constrained from doing so based on the terms of their agreement with Tesla, or they may just use common sense and keep their status to themselves.

 

[gbdesai]

They should make it a setting in the interface, i.e. "Are you willing to try beta or early release firmware updates?" I guess they'd need to do an update to provide the choice

 

[brianman]

I'd volunteer for the Beta firmware program. When buying my Sig, I was expecting to be a beta tester -- Tesla just hasn't made it official.

Ditto. Kind of surprised they didn't throw a bone to Sig owners on this one. I'm not saying they should make it exclusive to Sig, just that I find it surprising that Sig wasn't automatically tagged as "early adopter, duh".

 

[einTier]

Have posted on this before… Personally I'm all for public and open beta testing for consumer devices, computer software, etc. For a vehicle, I think Tesla is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT to keep their beta testing to a small circle of people they know and have presumably vetted. Of all the people who post that they'd jump at this, many would balk at a full legal disclaimer, and most would have a lawyer looking for a loophole in agreement if something went wrong. Not that I think anything would, could, or should, but there's just too much at stake here to treat it like Roku, iPad, or MSWord.

I've done software testing before. An NDA and disclaimer or other such legal agreement isn't scary to me. I'd actually enjoy finding testing out the new software, and as an owner who has gotten zero new features since buying the car, I'm ready.

I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE

 

[JohnQ]

Have posted on this before… Personally I'm all for public and open beta testing for consumer devices, computer software, etc. For a vehicle, I think Tesla is ABSOLUTELY CORRECT to keep their beta testing to a small circle of people they know and have presumably vetted. Of all the people who post that they'd jump at this, many would balk at a full legal disclaimer, and most would have a lawyer looking for a loophole in agreement if something went wrong. Not that I think anything would, could, or should, but there's just too much at stake here to treat it like Roku, iPad, or MSWord.

I agree with the bulk of this. Opting into a public beta on a car is extremely different than beta testing the latest version of software X. Regardless of NDA, legal disclaimers, etc, there will be inexperienced people who download the beta firmware and have serious regret. It's not like you can easily rollback to the latest production version.

Is that punishing those who know better? Perhaps ... but seems like Tesla is pretty happy with their beta set up as is.

 

[dirkhh]

Ditto. Kind of surprised they didn't throw a bone to Sig owners on this one. I'm not saying they should make it exclusive to Sig, just that I find it surprising that Sig wasn't automatically tagged as "early adopter, duh".

My understanding from arguing my case with Tesla is that they are going for broad coverage. So they have a few Sigs. A few early 60s. Some people with / without air suspension. Parking sensors. Etc. Making all the Sigs beta testers would completely skew their sample.

 

[apacheguy]

My guess is that the public beta testers do not reveal their status on these forums. They may be constrained from doing so based on the terms of their agreement with Tesla, or they may just use common sense and keep their status to themselves.

We do know who some of them are from when the mobile app was on the verge of release. Hint: Many of them have SSL reservations (Special Sig List) with VINs < 300. However, a NDA prevents them from discussing specific features of the software they are testing. And no, I am not a beta tester.

 

[Raven5000]

I'm already a beta tester for tesla and so are all of you. The car can be buggy at times we all know this and people give suggestions and sometime tesla listens. The car is definitely incomplete as far as I'm concerned. With that being said I love my car! Lol

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

My understanding from arguing my case with Tesla is that they are going for broad coverage. So they have a few Sigs. A few early 60s. Some people with / without air suspension. Parking sensors. Etc. Making all the Sigs beta testers would completely skew their sample.

Right. Teacher has good reason not always to call on the kid who's first to raise his hand.

 

[JaredBanyard]

I just got a notice for an update tonight.. could it be? How did I get in the beta?

Also: A public beta tester by definition is PUBLIC. It usually means anybody can join and you are not restricted when discussing it.