How did certain people get in the “alpha” group?

[JB47394]

What are the qualifications for the preflight folks? How do I apply? We know no answers for that and it’s unacceptable.

Ah, but the point is that we do know the answers.

The qualifications are that you must be willing to get the word out on new versions of FSD beta. If you're good enough at it, Tesla will include you for early access. This is just the way the world works. When a car company comes out with a new car, who do they give early access to? Car journalists. When a studio comes out with a new movie, who do they give early access to? Movie journalists. Each company also invites friends and influential figures in their industry.

You're viewing the situation as a consumer would, but it's a much larger picture. This is how companies do business. They need to get the word out to the world about their products, and various media outlets accomplish that. You can be sure that a journalist that regularly pans Disney movies doesn't get an invite to Disney events. That person is adversarial and doesn't help Disney, so Disney doesn't help them.

How do you apply? By doing stuff publicly that the company will view favorably. They then want you to get early access to their products because you will tell others that you like those products.

The fact that you went to Disney a couple times doesn't mean that Disney wants to invite you to a grand opening of a new ride. You're just another Disney fan. Even the fact that you have a lifetime pass at Disney doesn't get you any extra attention. It is the fact that you get the word out that they're interested in you learning about that new product.

 

[JulienW]

I got you beat by almost a decade amadeusneo. I'm still pissed off and infuriated from 2012 at this entitled SOB Steve Jurvetson. Apparently all it took to get the first Model S was to be an investor and friend of Elon and JB. The more I sit here and think about it the more of a hater I become. That does it I'm with you amadeusneo, we should sell our Teslas tomorrow and we will teach Elon a lesson.

 

[zoomer0056]

Yep, apparently all it takes is being a YouTuber or a social media friend of Elon’s?

If you're willing to put in the work ....

 

[kpanda17]

And Munro Live

 

[JulienW]

Obtuse thread since it is ranting about something Tesla did over 3 years ago and can't be changed. There is PLENTY that Tesla is doing NOW that deserve attention.

When Tesla was preparing to test FSD Beta V1 through V9 they needed to select about 1000 people to start the first tests. Obviously employees and people close to Tesla should be selected (so yes some were Elon's friends). They all had to sign NDA's and were the most likely to be trusted and offer constructive feedback. That was likely around 600 to 800 of the slots. This left a few hundred to pick. So the choices were:

1. Pick a few hundred at random FSD Capability owners then have them sign NDAs and we would have NOT know much about the program's abilities and adventures
2. Pick YouTuber's who tend to be more in tune with NDA's and as a bonus could offer all of us a glimpse of the program in action

So had Tesla picked #1 it is statistically unlikely that the OP (or me or anyone on here) would have been randomly selected anyway since it was such a small relative number. At least with option #2 we ALL got to experience FSD Beta vicariously.

So what the HELL is the OP bitc$ing about?

 

[JB47394]

So what the HELL is the OP bitc$ing about?

What he perceives as unfairness in a system. Not everyone is as informed as you are.

 

[TresLA]

Yep, apparently all it takes is being a YouTuber or a social media friend of Elon’s?

Or just someone that helps push development by providing useful feedback. They also did provide a button to report for us general public for awhile. It was taken away supposedly when the testing group was expanded. Then they gave us the voice feedback option. Also, you didn’t pay for FSDb. You paid for FSD which still isn’t available. The beta program is a “early limited release”. It’s not for the general public because most people can’t handle it.

 

[uscbucsfan]

Yep, apparently all it takes is being a YouTuber or a social media friend of Elon’s?

I'm no youtuber and really have 0 precense on social media. Most of the early releases I get are terrible, but I'm sure my region, bug reports, and driving habits determine my earlier access than most.

It's not always a good thing to get the first builds, trust me.

 

[JulienW]

I'm no youtuber and really have 0 precense on social media. Most of the early releases I get are terrible, but I'm sure my region, bug reports, and driving habits determine my earlier access than most.

It's not always a good thing to get the first builds, trust me.

The OP is (history) ranting about the *Limited (as Elon clearly stated) releases of V1 through V9 in Oct 2020 to Oct 2021. V10.2 in Oct of 2021 was the first release to us users.

*Limited to a small number of people who are expert & carful drivers.

 

[aronth5]

This has bothered me for a very long time. How did certain people (namely Tesla fans, influencers) get access to be in the alpha groups for the rollouts? It’s a bit infuriating. When I asked this on Reddit I got accused of being a hater and saying that these folks are giving free advertising for Tesla and deserve to have the latest software. Lol. I guess I don’t either, seeing as I paid $10K for it and so did a lot of other folks?

Life is too short to get infuriated over such a small problem. It's pretty clear from Reddit and feedback from this forum that many believe you're overreacting so maybe you should accept that and move on.

 

[AlMc]

I'm no youtuber and really have 0 precense on social media. Most of the early releases I get are terrible, but I'm sure my region, bug reports, and driving habits determine my earlier access than most.

It's not always a good thing to get the first builds, trust me.

This is correct. As someone who was one of the original 500 people nationwide in 2013 to be a tester I can tell you it was a wild ride and sometimes a bit scary. Back then (and it probably still applies) : If you asked to be a tester you would not become a tester.
I totally agree that since Tesla does not 'really' advertise that 'influencers' are a good group to be part of the testers. In addition, they may have the designation of 'alpha' testers but there are others (mostly Tesla employees) that are getting the 'real alpha' builds.

 

[Twiglett]

duh - seems pretty obvious what those guys do that most of us don't.
1 - release regular detailed drive videos
2 - slavishly video the same routes over and over on the same day (sometimes with different releases), constantly reporting issues when they occur
3 - have YouTube channels with many thousands of subscribers that show the good and bad of what FSD can do.
4 - be constantly posting in social media about the new and interesting things to do with Tesla

If you're not doing those things but think that just paying for the beta is enough then you're probably missing the point and will never get early access.

 

[MP3Mike]

I think it is mostly random. In the latest case I received 11.4.6 in the initial release days before WholeMars and I'm a nobody. Sometimes I am at the end of a rollout.

 

[spacecoin]

Yep, apparently all it takes is being a YouTuber or a social media friend of Elon’s?

There was an Early access program before FSDb but alas, youtubers are more important if your main goal is marketing.

 

[clydeiii]

It’s infuriating that it’s some arbitrary hidden thing. If this was some officially explained program/tiers I’d maybe feel better about it. But it sure reeks of “Mr Musk likes this person so add their VIN to the magic list that gets new builds first and weeks ahead of other folks”. That sort of approach is frankly, bullshit. For something we have all paid for and Tesla still has not fully delivered.

And there already is a beta group. This is different than staggered/ramped rollouts. The way the beta is handled is kind of a joke anyway, with no real way to log bugs or discuss things. Tweeting at Musk is not acceptable. He only listens to WMC and other folks typically. And that’s not the right way to do this anyhow. When they added the voice feedback feature it was a step in the right direction.

It's not arbitrary nor is it hidden, you just lack historical context. First, don't call them alpha testers, they never get "alpha" releases. (We aren't even sure who gets those but definitely not the youtubers.) They get betas weeks before normies like you and me. Back in the day, 2020, when FSDb was initially rolling out beyond alpha, Tesla had to decide who to give it to and for whatever reason thse chose people who had large yt follower counts. This wasn't hidden and cleary it wasn't arbitrary. It makes sense, the yts could post their footage to yt so everyone else could see the progress.

Now in 2023 literally everyone is on the beta track but these yts still get the beta builds a few weeks before the rest of us. It's fine. Would I love to be in the first push? Absolutely. Do I understand why it's a staged rollout? Also yes absolutely.

 

[MP3Mike]

Tesla had to decide who to give it to and for whatever reason thse chose people who had large yt follower counts.

I'll add that a number of the initial people that got it back then didn't have a large YouTube following when they got it, and they were likely selected because they were heads, or heavily involved, in their local Tesla club. (Having it and posting videos resulted in them get a large YouTube following.)

 

[AlMc]

In the 'beginning' we were not allowed to tell anyone/share videos/etc.. You signed a NDA. If you did talk about it here or online they kicked you out. Things have changed greatly over the past 10 years.