Elon Musk says Tesla is doubling the size of its Full Self-Driving Beta program with a new update.
Another one that follows may see the size of the test fleet increase by a factor of 10.
Back in October 2020, Tesla began sending a full self-driving beta release to owners in the “Early Access” program, a group of Tesla owners testing early versions of Tesla’s new features before launching a wider version to the fleet would give.
The software update is seen as an important step towards Tesla, which has kept its long-standing promise to make its vehicles ‘full self-driving’ through software updates on the internet.
Although the update does not result in a true self-driving vehicle, as the responsibility still lies with the driver, who still needs Tesla to stay alert and be ready to take control at all times, it closes the gap with Tesla ‘s Autopilot freeway. functions and enables Tesla’s driver assistance system to control the vehicle in city streets and through intersections.
Tesla owners using the FSD beta can give the car a destination and the vehicle will try to drive them there autonomously, while the driver keeps their hands on the steering wheel and is ready to take over.
Since the first beta release in early access, Tesla has released several new versions of the beta software and gradually opened the beta version to more owners, but it has not yet had a wider version and the rollout of new versions has delayed during the last month or two.
Earlier this week, Musk linked a wider version of the FSD beta to an updated version of the software coming next month.
The CEO has now said that the number of Tesla owners testing the full self-driving beta has doubled with a new update:
‘Let us know if you would like to have the Tesla Full Self-Driving Beta loaded to your car. Now double the beta program size by 8.2 and probably 10X by 8.3. Still be careful, but it’s getting mature. ”
Last month, Musk revealed that there are currently more than 1,000 Tesla owners testing the FSD beta.
Tesla uses the test fleet to provide real-time data to its neural network and improve performance.
The CEO has not elaborated on the timing of these two new versions of the FSD Beta software, but it is likely to come within the next month, as he mentioned earlier this week.
Over the past few months, Musk has said several times that he is confident that Tesla will release a truly complete self-driving Level 5 system by the end of 2021.
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