PALO ALTO, California – Tesla has expanded its “complete self-driving” software to about 2,000 Tesla owners, but some drivers have withdrawn access because they did not pay enough attention to the road, according to Tesla CEO Eles Musk.
“FSD Beta has now been expanded … we also moved into beta where drivers did not pay enough attention to the road, Musk said in a tweet on Friday. “No accidents to date.”
It is unclear how many drivers have withdrawn access to the beta software. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of drivers who lost access to the program.
The beta version of ‘Complete Self-Government’ was released in October last year. Tesla’s use of the term ‘full self-driving’ has long been controversial and has been criticized by autonomous vehicle experts. For most experts, full self-driving means a car in which a person can fall asleep safely behind the wheel. An attentive human driver is not necessary.
The news comes after reports that a letter was sent in February from the National Council on Transport Safety to the National Traffic Safety on the highway demanding strict requirements for autonomous driving tests on public roads.
CNBC was the first to report the federal agency’s request for updated safety requirements for public tests.
In the letter, NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt says Tesla is testing on public roads, but with ‘limited oversight or reporting requirements’.
“While Tesla contains an indemnity that ‘features currently activated require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous, NHTSA’s practical approach to monitoring AV testing poses a potential risk to motorists and other road users,” he said. Sumwalt added.
Earlier this month, Musk tweeted his plans to double the size of Tesla’s beta test program with version 8.2 and about ten times the number of testers with version 8.3.
He then added Friday that the software’s “next major release” will be next month.
“Go with pure vision – not even with radar,” Musk tweeted. “It’s the way to get real AI.”
CNN’s Matt McFarland contributed to this report.
The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner company. All rights reserved.