Blog Tesla Looking for Good Drivers to Test Full Self-Driving System

If you want to be a beta tester of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system, you’re going to need to be a good driver.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that owners will soon be able to request access via a button in the car. This will give Tesla permission to evaluate owners’ driving for seven days before they’re included in the beta testing group.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1438751064765906945

Musk also tweeted that that Version 10.1 of the FSD Beta is estimated to arrive on September 24th. The beta request button will be included in the update.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1438747500010168322

The V10 update was well-received, with some reviewers showing their cars navigating through areas that it was previously unable to complete without driver intervention. Musk has said the next version will be another noticeable step in performance for the system. 

 

[JosiahLuscher]

I'd like to see some statistical proof that their criteria for "good driving behavior" is relevant. I find playing the Tesla minigame of watching the road and watching for the apply torque to the steering wheel message to be super frustrating. - And _yes_ I am holding the wheel. -- Maybe the current FSD is dramatically better than whatever I've got in my car, but the version that I have makes mistakes often. Which is why I prioritize maintaining awareness of whats going on around the car; I think that's more important for safety than playing the minigame. Apparently Tesla disagrees(?).

 

[JosiahLuscher]

Back in April Tristan @rice_fry on Twitter Reported that Tesla Insurance records information on a per drive basis including:
Unique Drive ID
Record Version
Car Firmware Version
Driver Profile Name
Start/End Time
Drive Duration
Start/End Odometer
Number of Autopilot Strikeouts
Number of Forward Collision Warnings
Number of Lane Departure Warnings
Number of ABS activations
Time spent within 1s of car in front
Time spent within 3s of car in front
Acceleration Variance
Service Mode
Delivered

 

[TechnoMinds]

excited!

 

[MelsTess]

I would love to do this- I drive alot- like a real estate agent but without the commission!- but I haven’t added the autopilot feature, when I picked up my X it was a 7$ upgrade. Now I think it’s 10$. Should have done it back then…..

 

[linux-works]

what happens in china? there's your 'social index' and now it seems if you want to enter the beta, you'll have a 'tesla driving index'.

wonder if they are supposed to add up to zero, and what happens if they dont??

 

[Terminator857]

... was a 7$ upgrade. Now I think it’s 10$. Should have done it back then…..

Why? It is only $200 a month now.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

It also monitors things like acceleration, and braking so if you drive aggressively than you get dinged.

I'm going to purpose put the car into chill mode
I'll set the FCW to late because I get too many false alarms.
I have LDW off because I can't stand them
I never get an AP strikeout so no worries there.
I've never had ABS activate
I use good following distances so no worries there.

So I don't have worries qualifying despite the fact that I'm honestly not that great of a driver, but I think this is pure fluff that just for appearances sake where it doesn't really do anything. What in the world does your driving have to do with your ability to monitor a vehicle while on FSD?

If they really wanted to qualify a driver there would be a Quiz testing your knowledge of its limitations, and they'd use the Driver Monitoring system (in the 3,Y and newer S models) to detect if the driver was using a cell phone.

 

[linux-works]

I do see value in picking drivers that will voluntarily use a safer (longer) following distance.

there's all kinds of good ways they can sort the data to find 'conservative' drivers.

for the first selection, yes, you DO want that. not youtubers looking for fame. but sane normal drivers who, uhm, value life and stuff.

oh, and wont damage the brand. yeah, that too.

 

[Todd Burch]

My Model S has AP1 so I have no skin in the FSD game, however I own a boatload of TSLA stock so in that respect I DO have skin in the game.

I’m trying to reason as to why Tesla is expanding the beta.

George Hotz said recently that Tesla’s FSD is bug-constrained, not data-constrained, and I agree with him. What he means is that Tesla is not lacking in data for their AI, they are constrained by bugs and imperfections in their system. (For example, poor path planning, etc).

We can see this every day. FSD 10 continues to have issues with common maneuvers that human drivers find easy. (Not taking anything away from it—it’s incredible—just not ready for prime time).

What, then, is the purpose of expanding the beta program? When basically all the beta testers are encountering frequent disengagements on common maneuvers, why not fix those before expanding?

If you fix the common issues first, you dramatically lessen the risk of an accident when you bring more testers into the fray. We already know that Tesla can issue triggers to pull data/scenarios from the fleet, so there shouldn’t be a lack of data.

Only reason I can see for doing it is to placate the FSD customers who are becoming increasingly frustrated at the long wait for FSD. But this involves the risk of an accident which could delay the program further.

 

[linux-works]

What, then, is the purpose of expanding the beta program?

people paid a LOT of money and they are bitching.

its just that simple.

and they have a right to bitch. its a lot of money and for all that time, it had minimal extra funct over the other AP pkgs.

they dont need the 'data', I dont think. but they have to do something since its just way way late and people are pissed.

 

[Dan D.]

people paid a LOT of money and they are bitching.

its just that simple.

and they have a right to bitch. its a lot of money and for all that time, it had minimal extra funct over the other AP pkgs.

they dont need the 'data', I dont think. but they have to do something since its just way way late and people are pissed.

Some possibilities why they are expanding the Beta program

a). They have seen the increasing likelihood of lawsuits over lack of FSD
b). They want to realize some more of the deferred money
c). Elon said to do it
d). They honestly feel the software is ready
e). They have not yet combined the stacks, but when they do it will be deemed not ready and none of this will happen anyway

 

[Catbiscuits]

Back in April Tristan @rice_fry on Twitter Reported that Tesla Insurance records information on a per drive basis including:
Unique Drive ID
Record Version
Car Firmware Version
Driver Profile Name
Start/End Time
Drive Duration
Start/End Odometer
Number of Autopilot Strikeouts
Number of Forward Collision Warnings
Number of Lane Departure Warnings
Number of ABS activations
Time spent within 1s of car in front
Time spent within 3s of car in front
Acceleration Variance
Service Mode
Delivered

Thank god I don't have Tesla Insurance.

Forward Collision Warnings come without rhyme or reason. Lane Departure Warnings are often inaccurate. And of course I get autopilot strikeouts at least once a month while holding my tightly hands on the steering wheel!

 

[JosiahLuscher]

Thank god I don't have Tesla Insurance.

Forward Collision Warnings come without rhyme or reason. Lane Departure Warnings are often inaccurate. And of course I get autopilot strikeouts at least once a month while holding my tightly hands on the steering wheel!

Same here. For me the tiny white letters at the bottom of the display that seem to show up every time I NEED to be paying attention to the road are the worst. Remember that goofy toy called BopIt! - I feel like Tesla makes me play BopIt! right when I need to be focusing on traffic.

That and the G.D. yellow blinking lights that the car _still_ interprets as stop signs. Helllo! It is _dangerous_ to be slowing to a stop in the middle of a 55mph highway for no reason.

Really I wish they would communicate with us more. What help do they need! How am I supposed to be driving to maximize the quality of the data collected.

I feel where your coming from even if my gripes are a little different! We're all in this together.

 

[Mardak]

What, then, is the purpose of expanding the beta program? When basically all the beta testers are encountering frequent disengagements on common maneuvers, why not fix those before expanding?

FSD Beta is currently "only" aiming for level 2 requiring human supervision at all times, so disengagements aren't necessarily a blocker. Similar to how current Autopilot for highways is level 2, Tesla knows there's fewer accidents with highway Autopilot active, so Tesla probably believes FSD Beta 10.1+ will be safer (with proper supervision).

A wider deployment allows for faster accumulated miles for calculating statistically significant safety metrics while in parallel reducing the need for disengagements. The former will probably be needed to convince regulators to allow for a general release without a special opt-in procedure.

I wonder if single stack for FSD handling highway driving will be used to quickly increase ("inflate") total miles driven.

 

[Mr. Michael]

I paid for FSD that really works. Why would I want something less? It’s enough to babysit their system and all of its idiosyncrasies now (slow lane changes, jerking the car to the side at entrance/exit ramps, speed limit that either doesn’t respond until after the limit is reduced, speed limits that are completely wrong, not stopping at stop signs, not recognizing vehicles at the side of the road, slamming on the brakes for cross traffic that is far away, etc.). Sounds like just asking to share Elon’s headache at this point. If they only offered lane change without disengagement (for a much reduced price), I think many people would be happy. So no, I don’t want another layer of a bad product. I could just hire a bad driver if thats what I want. Although if someone just had to be another test driver, I suppose you could leave the car parked for a week, and no questionable driving score….

 

[David.85D]

Forward Collision Warnings come without rhyme or reason

I get one almost every time I’m on a curving road with street parking. Which includes the road to my house Guess I’ll never pass this test…

 

[Spuzzz]

Thank god I don't have Tesla Insurance.

… And of course I get autopilot strikeouts at least once a month while holding my tightly hands on the steering wheel!

Sounds like maybe you don’t know how to hold steering wheel to satisfy autopilot nag. It’s not how tight you grip the wheel….you need to apply slight resistance or torque….either left or right…to the wheel. That will dismiss the autopilot nag…it should never fail to do so. inadvertent strikeouts should not occur if you are doing this correctly. Apologies if I’ve misinterpreted your statement.

 

[PRLM3]

Sounds like maybe you don’t know how to hold steering wheel to satisfy autopilot nag. It’s not how tight you grip the wheel….you need to apply slight resistance or torque….either left or right…to the wheel. That will dismiss the autopilot nag…it should never fail to do so. inadvertent strikeouts should not occur if you are doing this correctly. Apologies if I’ve misinterpreted your statement.

That’s exactly what I would have said before I took my most recent road trip about 3 weeks ago. Only time I had landed in AP jail was when I had truly become distracted enough to miss the multiple prompts. But as of last trip, when I got put in jail, after resetting and getting out I made a conscious and active effort to not get thrown in again! Almost immediately after the blue blinking reminder I would apply torque. The weird thing is, my notification from the blue warning seemed to decrease, and despite literally my best efforts to “jump on” the alert — I still was placed in jail twice more over the course of a 4 hour drive. It really felt like something had changed in the notification system - been doing this for almost 3 years. Anyone feel the same, or have knowledge of an update changing anything?

 

[M109Rider]

I’m less worried about how people drive, and far far more worried about the folks that have a “I want to get back at Tesla” approach for some reason or another.
(Usually because Tesla denied user caused damage, they felt Tesla should repair for free, or something like that).

These folks will post videos and verbiage with the sole purpose of trying their best to make Tesla look bad.
I could easily list the folks that fit this criteria, that frequently these forums.

I’ll put money on the table, we will see this dramatic, exaggerated reporting, and behaviour from these needy folks as sure as tax’s when they get the beta.

The aggressive drivers aren’t really what I feel is the biggest problem.