PALO ALTO, Calif. – Tesla has expanded its “complete self-driving” software to about 2,000 Tesla owners, but some drivers have had their access revoked because they didn’t pay enough attention to the road, according to Tesla CEO. Elon Musk.
“FSD Beta has now been extended … we also revoked the beta version in which drivers did not pay enough attention to the road, Musk he said in a tweet Friday. “No accidents so far.”
It is unclear how many drivers have been revoked from beta software.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 “fully automatic driving” was launched in October last year. Tesla’s use of the term “complete driving” has long been controversial and criticized by autonomous vehicle experts. For most experts, complete driving means a car in which a person could safely fall asleep behind the wheel. No need for an attentive human driver.
The news comes after a letter was sent in February from the National Council for Transport Safety to the National Highway Traffic Safety, calling for stricter requirements on autonomous driving tests on public roads.
CNBC was the first to report the federal agency’s request for updated safety requirements for public road testing.
In the letter, NTSB President Robert Sumwalt says Tesla is testing on public roads, but with “limited surveillance or reporting requirements.”
Although Tesla includes a disclaimer that “currently enabled features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous,” NHTSA’s practical approach to AV test surveillance poses a potential risk to drivers and other road users. Sumwalt added.
Earlier this month, Musk wrote on Twitter his plans to double the size of Tesla’s beta testing program with version 8.2 and about 10 times the number of testers with version 8.3.
He later added on Friday that the “next significant version” of the software would be next month.
“Walking with pure vision – not even using radar,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “This is the path to AI in the real world.”
– CNN’s Matt McFarland contributed to this report.
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