Tesla Pushes Forward on Self-Driving Vehicle Software

Tesla Model Y vehicles sit on the lot for sale at a Tesla car dealership in Austin, Texas on May 31, 2023. Tesla's Model Y was the world's best-selling car in the first quarter of 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the end of Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software earlier this week.

“Version 12 won’t be beta,” Musk wrote on Twitter on June 27 in response to an FSD beta user who asked, “FSD Beta 12 ‘maybe later this year.’”

While Musk provided no further detail or possible timeline, his comment comes at a time when U.S. regulators have been investigating a series of accidents involving Tesla vehicles on autopilot colliding with parked emergency vehicles.

Earlier this year, during a quarterly earnings conference call, Musk said the electric vehicle giant would likely launch full self-drive technology later this year.

“I hesitate to say this, but I think we’ll do it this year,” Musk said during a quarterly earnings conference call in April.

The test version of FSD will be “two steps forward, one step back between releases,” he said, “but the trend is very clearly towards full self-driving, towards full autonomy.”

Despite the hefty price tag of Tesla’s FSD Beta software, hundreds of thousands of customers have opted for it. The system initially cost $5,000. It increased to $10,000 in 2020, and then in 2022, Tesla bumped the cost to its current price.

Just days before Musk’s announcement, a 2016 Tesla, operating on the vehicle’s Autopilot software, crashed into a semi-truck that was stopped on a highway in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, PennLive reported.

On June 23, the Tesla was traveling in the middle lane when it struck the rear end of a Freightliner semi-truck parked in the same lane, providing traffic control for a right lane closure, the Pennsylvania State Police said. The car reportedly lost control due to being on Autopilot. The 18-year-old male driver was charged with “careless driving.” No injuries were reported.

Tesla did not respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment. The company disbanded its public relations department in 2020, according to Not a Tesla App, a blog site that publishes daily news about Tesla.

In February, a 2014 Tesla S Model was traveling at 71 mph when it slammed into a fire truck blocking part of the roadway after an accident in Walnut Creek, California, KRON-TV reported. The driver was killed, and a passenger, who had to be extricated from the vehicle, suffered “major injuries. Four Contra Costa County firefighters were also injured.

The advanced driver assistance system was suspected of being used when the wreck occurred.

Autopilot driver’s assistance software comes standard on every new Tesla, and it is available in three packages:

• The website states that autopilot features traffic-aware cruise control that matches the speed of your vehicle to surrounding traffic and autosteer to assist with steering on clearly marked lanes.
• Enhanced Autopilot includes the Autopilot features, along with guiding the vehicle on and off the highway, automatic lane changing, parking with the touch of a button, and summoning your vehicle.
• Full Self-Driving Capability combines Autopilot and Enhanced Autopilot features with traffic and stop sign control “with your active supervision.” Autosteering on city streets is an upcoming feature, according to Tesla.

Understanding the Levels of Automated Driving Systems

The U.S. Department of Transportation has adopted six levels (0-5) of driving automation as defined by the Society of Engineers (SAE).

The SAE defines the levels as:

• 0: A completely manual vehicle that is controlled by the person operating it.
• 1: The vehicle is equipped with cruise control to monitor speed but no other automated features.
• 2: A partially automated driving assistance system that can perform some tasks such as self-parking, braking, acceleration, or steering, but the driver is responsible for monitoring all tasks and must be prepared to intervene.
• 3: Conditional automated driving system vehicles are equipped with the capabilities to make decisions, such as self-parking, braking, acceleration, or steering, but it still requires the driver to remain alert to take over when a task cannot be completed.
• 4: High-driving automation allows the vehicle to intervene if something goes wrong or there is a system failure. In most cases, these cars do not require human interaction for the task of driving.
• 5: Full driving automation does not require human attention. Vehicles at this level will not be equipped with a steering wheel, acceleration pedal, or brake pedal. Fully autonomous cars would be able to go anywhere and do anything a driver can do. These vehicles are being tested in some areas of the world but are not yet available to consumers.

In 2021, the NHTSA issued a Standing General Order that requires manufacturers and reporting entities to report crashes involving vehicles equipped with SAE Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) if the driving assistance was active within 30 seconds of the incident and for all SAE Levels 3-5 Automated Driving Systems (ADS) on publicly accessible roads (pdf).

NHTSA Investigation

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has sent investigative teams to probe dozens of crashes nationwide involving Teslas since the summer of 2021.

Since July 2021, there have been 963 crashes, including 22 fatalities, in the United States involving vehicles equipped with SAE Level 2 driver-assistance technology, according to the latest data from NHTSA. The report points out limitations in the data, such as the possibility of multiple reports of the same crash and, in some cases, minor accidents that may not have been reported.

Of those, 799 crashes, including 17 fatalities, involved Teslas Autopilot technology. Eleven of the fatal incidents have occurred since May 2022, along with at least five serious injuries.

The data reflects a surge in crashes over the past four years, which could be due in part to the increasing presence of Teslas and the use of its driver-assistance technology. The NHTSA had received 392 incident reports for SAE Level 2 ADAS-equipped vehicle crashes as of May 15, 2022.

Two years ago, Tesla began transitioning from radar sensors to its Tesla Vision, which the company claims the newer technology is the “best strategy for the future of Autopilot and the safety of our customers.” It began removing radar from the Model 3 and Model Y in 2021, followed by the Model S and Model X in 2023.

“Compared to radar-equipped vehicles, Model 3 and Model Y with Tesla Vision have either maintained or improved their active safety ratings in the [United States] and Europe and perform better in pedestrian automatic emergency braking (AEB) intervention,” Tesla said in a post on its website.

In August 2022, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) upgraded its investigation from a Preliminary Evaluation (PE) to an Engineering Analysis (EA) of an estimated 830,000 Tesla vehicles. The affected models include 2014-2022 Tesla Models S, Model X, Model Y, and Model 3 (pdf).

“The investigation opening was motivated by an accumulation of crashes in which Tesla vehicles, operating with Autopilot engaged, struck stationary in-road or roadside first responder vehicles tending to pre-existing collision scenes,” NHTSA stated in a summary report dated June 8, 2022.

The EA investigation into the Tesla Autopilot, including FSD, remains open and active, Veronica Morales, NHTSA spokeswoman, told The Washington Post.

“NHTSA reminds the public that all advanced driver assistance systems require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times. Accordingly, all state laws hold the human driver responsible for the operation of their vehicles,” Morales told the Post.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has voiced concerns over how Tesla markets its technology, pointing out that the name of the software could be misleading.

“I don’t think that something should be called, for example, Autopilot, when the fine print says you need to have your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road at all times,” Buttigieg told the Associated Press in an interview in May.

The NHTSA has sent investigative teams to probe dozens of crashes since 2016 in which Teslas were suspected of operating on Autopilot or FSD  have struck pedestrians, motorcyclists, semi-trailers, and parked emergency vehicles.

Buttigieg said that self-driving vehicles could potentially reduce the nearly 40,000 traffic deaths that occur each year across the country but that the technology is not yet proven.

Tesla’s FSD Beta Recall

On Feb. 15, the NHTSA announced that Tesla had agreed to a voluntary recall of more than 362,000 Model S, Model X, Model Y, and Model 3 vehicles equipped with the FSD Beta software, citing its failure to operate safely in a variety of common driving situations (pdf).

Tesla started rolling out its over-the-air updates to affected vehicles on March 6. FSD Beta version 11.3.1 or later includes the update, according to Tesla.

Are There Any Approved ADS Systems in the US?

This year, Mercedes-Benz became the first in the United States to receive SAE Level 3 certification, according to a news release. In February, Nevada became the first state to allow the luxury car company to sell the SAE Level 3 Drive Pilot-equipped vehicles that will be available as an option on its 2024 S-Class and EQS sedan models. Earlier this month, California also granted certification of the conditionally automated drive system that will be available for delivery in late 2023.

The  Drive Pilot system requires drivers to keep their faces visible to the in-car cameras, but they can turn their heads or play games on the infotainment screen while the car is driving.