As Elon Musk had announced, the gradual distribution of autonomous driving capacity began yesterday. A long-awaited step forward will increase the vehicle’s ability to move on its own, and we can already see in action thanks to the videos that its first users are sharing.
This update is currently in beta and is being sent to a small group of customers so that once it is validated that everything is correct, it will continue with the rest of the owners according to the brand: “in a slow and extremely cautious way.”
Wow here is a left turn and it safely went through the light. This is bettaaaaa people and it’s amazing. @elonmusk you savage, you have created a life hack and you have accomplished fsd. @tesla_raj pic.twitter.com/L8dPC6PhpU
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 22, 2020
In these first videos, we can see how the interface has changed slightly, and now the screen marks not only the objects, signs, or vehicles, but also highlights the edges of the road and the outline of the rest of the cars.
At the moment, Tesla is very cautious with this new function, for which it has published the following statement: “When autonomous driving is enabled, your vehicle will also change lanes outside the motorways, select junctions to follow its navigation route, navigate around other cars and objects and make left and right turns. Use Full Autonomous Driving in Limited Beta only if you pay constant attention to the road and are ready to act immediately, especially around blind corners, intersection crossings, and tight driving situations.”
Very difficult to get video shot… I’ll get a better video soon… it turned on the signal, waited for the car and pedestrians… at night! Incredible work @Tesla !! ❤️❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/HL65vB1gYR
— Brandonee916 (@brandonee916) October 22, 2020
This means that the system will be in a testing phase where the driver will have to pay full attention and keep his hands on the wheel as before.
But the performance that the system is achieving even in these first hours is still surprising. In the absence of more in-depth analysis, it seems that it manages to complete left and right turns without significant problems. A striking aspect is if we consider the technology used by Tesla, very different from other technologies such as Waymo, dispensing with elements such as Lidar sensors.
Of course, Elon Musk himself has taken advantage of the moment to confirm something that he had already warned and done previously. And it is that with the improvement of the system, it will increase its prices. Something that will mean that from Monday, hiring total autonomous driving will rise another 2,000 dollars.
Now that Tesla FSD beta is out in limited release, FSD price (new or upgrade) will go up by ~$2k on Monday
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 22, 2020
If its translation to euros is confirmed in the same amount, this would mean that from this next week, the Tesla customer who wants to contract the Autopilot system with autonomous driving will have to pay no less than 9,500 euros to enjoy all the features.
An economic issue that will undoubtedly raise a lot of dust, since despite being defended by Elon Musk as a better option than Lidar-based systems, its price follows the opposite direction to systems that do not stop decreasing in costs, while those of Tesla do nothing but increase.
Something that will undoubtedly have its effect in one or two years, when alternatives equipped with Lidar systems arrive on the market that will have a chance to fish in the field of Tesla if they achieve more competitive prices. Something that will undoubtedly benefit the consumer.