This week, Tesla started the rollout of their Full Self-Driving Beta v9. Right now, the update is only available to their early access program, which consists of about 2,000 members. Version 9 comes with an updated UI, more confident driving, better breaking, and a smoother experience.
It has to be said that even though the name says ‘Full Self-Driving’, it still is not fully autonomous. The system is very advanced, taking input from 8 surround cameras, but still requires a driver to take over whenever necessary. These cameras guide the autopilot system, instead of radar or LiDAR.
Elon Musk has been promising this Full Self-Driving (FSD) version for about two years, first starting in 2018, then doing it again in 2019. It’s still not released to the public yet, as Musk has tweeted “Beta 9 addresses most known issues, but there will be unknown issues, so please be paranoid”.
Is it safe? Some testers have been quick to upload videos of their drives with the new update. Most of these tests have been in low-traffic situations though, so there is quite a big more testing that needs to be done. The release notes included in the update warns that the auto-pilot “may do the wrong thing at the worst time”, so drivers should always have their hands on the wheel and prepare for the worst.
What’s different about v8 and v9 of FSD? The biggest difference is in the visualisation. The lines are smooth now, compared to v8’s jumpy and dotted lines. Intersections are displayed in a more elegant way as well. The way it captures and renders pedestrians and vehicles is more polished. They still have some improvements to do, but hopefully the beta testers will provide valuable feedback.
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